Ligand exchanges between ethanol and some amines in excited mercury complexes in the gas phase

Abstract

The Hg(6 ³P₁)-photosensitized luminescence of amine(AM)–alcohol (AL) mixtures and some aminoalcohols has been investigated under conditions of steady illumination at room temperature. For AM–AL mixtures, the intensity of luminescence at 300 nm from an HgAL* complex decreased with increasing amine pressure, while the emission intensity at 360 nm from an HgAM* complex increased upon addition of AL. For aminoalcohols only emission from exciplexes formed between Hg* and an amino group was observed. In order to explain these results, we proposed that a ligand-exchange reaction, HgAL*+ AM → HgAM*+ AL, effectively occurs in these systems.