We report the first observation of surface plasmon coupled phosphorescence (SPCP) for PtOEP (2,3,7,8,12,17,18-octaethyl-21H,23H-porphyrin platinum II) immobilized in polyvinyl chloride films on continuous gold films of 47 nm thickness. We confirm the observation of SPCP by comparing the spectra and lifetimes for plasmon coupled phosphorescence with the free space isotropic phosphorescence emission. Due to the directional emission inherent to plasmon coupled phosphorescence, we believe that SPCP can facilitate the study of phosphorescence in biological applications, such as protein dynamics and alkaline phosphatase studies, whose signal intensities are inherently weak and nearly always isotropic. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.