Quenching of fluorescence of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons by chlorine

Abstract

A number of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon molecules, dissolved in methanol, have been investigated for their fluorescence quenching by chlorine. Extremely efficient quenching is observed between the fluorophore and the quencher, which leads to enhanced non-radiative decay of the fluorescent state of the molecule with increasing chlorine concentration. The findings demonstrate the possibility of developing an analytical method for the determination of chlorine.