The first study of intermolecular energy transfer processes in a
chemiluminescence system is reported.
Energy transfer in the acridinium−hydrogen peroxide
chemiluminescence system, observed for the first
time, is evaluated for radiative, dipole−dipole, and collisional
components in the presence and absence
of micelles: cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, Brij-35, and sodium
lauryl sulfate. In surfactant solutions,
the major components were found to be radiative and collisional.
Changing the surfactant had the greatest
effect on the dipole−dipole component. Effects can be attributed
to ion−ion forces, the mixing process,
and the path length of the chemiluminescence measurement. In
contrast to photoexcited energy transfer
studies, the Rhodamine 110 (acceptor) concentration is varied by almost
4 orders of magnitude and is up
to 105 greater than the acridinium (donor) concentration.
This can be attributed to the absence of excitation
absorption in a chemiluminescence measurement and the increased
solubility due to the surfactants. The
semiempirical method used for evaluating energy transfer should be
adaptable to other systems and
requires only the spectra of the donor and acceptor and the measurement
of chemiluminescence intensity
as a function of acceptor concentration.