Energy Transfer Between Organic Molecules and Transition Metal Ions

Abstract

Modern ideas on radiationless energy transfer in solutions are described briefly. The fundamental formulae for the rates of this process, involving inductive-resonance and exchange-resonance mechanisms, are presented. Studies on the quenching of the fluorescent and triplet states of organic molecules by transition metal ions are surveyed and it is shown that in most cases radiationless energy transfer takes place. Energy transfer from a fluorescent state to transition metal ions proceeds via a dipole–dipole mechanism and energy transfer from a triplet state involves an exchange-resonance mechanism. Studies on radiationless energy transfer between transition metal ions and molecular oxygen are also considered. The prospects for using energy transfer to elucidate the pathways and mechanisms of photochemical reactions of coordinated transition metal compounds in solutions are discussed. The bibliography includes 110 references.