Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.118, No.10, 1832-1840, 2014
Excited-State Proton Transfer from Quinone-Cyanine 9 to Protic Polar-Solvent Mixtures
Steady-state and time-resolved emission techniques were used to study the excited-state proton-transfer (ESPT) process of quinone cyanine 9 (QCy9) in solvent mixtures. We found that the ESPT rate from QCy9 in water/methanol mixtures is independent of the mixture composition and the rate constant is k(PT) similar to 10(13) s(-1). In ethanol/trifluoroethanol (TFE) mixtures the ESPT rate strongly depends on the solvent-mixture composition. We observe two ESPT rates rather than one over a wide range of solvent-mixture compositions. The average ESPT rate decreases as the mole fraction of TFE increases.