On the Phosphorescence of Benzologues of Furan , Thiophene , Selenophene , and Tellurophene . A Systematic Study of the Intra -annular Internal Heavy-atom Effect

Abstract

Phosphorescence in ethanol and n-pentane at 77 K of the benzologues 1-8 of furan, thiophene, selenophene and tellurophene has been investigated. The rate constants of both the radiative (k PT ) and non-radiative (k GT ) deactivation of the lowest triplet state correlate linearly with where c k denotes the Hückel AO coefficients in the HOMO of the carbon atoms bound to the hetero-atom and ζ is the spin-orbit coupling constant of the hetero-atom present. - The linear correlation observed between k PT and k GT is an example for the Orlandi-Siebrand rule. - The influence of an external heavy-atom perturber (methyl iodide) on phosphorescence lifetimes and the vibrational structure of phosphorescence spectra is the more efficient the less efficient is the internal perturbation caused by the intra-annular heavy-atom.