Photoinduced Reactions of Pyrene with Carbon Tetrachloride on Porous Silica Gel

Abstract

Polyaromatic compounds such as pyrene are adsorbed to the porous silica gel surfaces, and the photoinduced reactions of these species on these surfaces are studied. The pyrene singlet excited state and triplet state are quenched on the surface with coadsorbed carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Temperature studies with evacuated samples indicate that quenching occurs by CCl4 adsorbed on the surface and not by bombardment from the gas phase. The dynamic quenching rate constant of the pyrene singlet excited state increases after high-temperature pretreatment of the silica. It is suggested that this results from an increase in the rate of diffusion of carbon tetrachloride on the surface after the high-temperature removal of surface silanol groups. The dynamic quenching rate constant of the singlet excited state increases with the silica gel pore size, and the highest rate constant is observed on the 150 A silica surface, which has been pretreated at 600 °C. A large pore size (smaller surface area) and a dehydroxyla...