Femtosecond pump probe spectroscopy was employed to measure intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) and intermolecular vibrational energy transfer (VET) of benzene in the gas phase and in supercritical (sc) CO2. We observe two IVR time scales the faster of which proceeds within tau(IVR)((1)) < 0.5 ps. The slower IVR component has a time constant of tau(IVR)((2)) = (48 +/- 5) ps in the gas phase and in scCO(2) is accelerated by interactions with the solvent. At the highest CO2 density it is reduced to tau(IVR)((2)) = (6 +/- 1) ps. The corresponding IVR rate constants show a similar density dependence as the VET rate constants. Model calculations suggest that both quantities correlate with the local CO2 density in the immediate surrounding of the benzene molecule. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.