Electron transfer from aromatic molecules to dimethylmercury via a triplet exciplex

Abstract

Whereas low concentrations of added dimethylmercury [0 < (DMM)≲ 0.1–1 mol dm^–3] increase the intersystem crossing rates of electronically excited aromatic molecules, higher concentrations of the fluorescence quencher favour electron transfer from the excited aromatic to the dimethylmercury. A kinetic scheme is proposed, based on fluorescence intensity measurements, on optical densities of triplet species and radical cations as observed by flash photolysis. The data are consistent with the formation of a trimolecular complex consisting of an electronically excited aromatic species and two molecules of dimethylmercury.