QUANTUM YIELD AND MECHANISM OF THE GENERATION OF O2(1-DELTA-G) AND PHOTOPHYSICS OF O2 ... TOLUENE CHARGE-TRANSFER COMPLEXES

The yield of fluorescent singlet oxygen at 1.27-mu-m, measured by IR laser fluorimetry, has been used to determine the quantum yield (PHI-DELTA) for the generation of 1O2 from the complex O2...toluene. It is shown that PHI-DELTA = 0.25, independent of the pressure of O2 in the range (5-20).10(5) Pa. The formation of singlet oxygen occurs by the dissociation of the complex in an excited singlet state into O2(1-DELTA-g) and a toluene molecule in the ground state.