The bimolecular rate constants
for oxygen (O2(3Σg
-)) quenching and the efficiencies f
Δ
T with which
singlet oxygen (O2*(1Δg)) is thereby produced are reported for a range of substituted biphenyl triplet states
in acetonitrile, benzene, and cyclohexane. The magnitudes of
and f
Δ
T are inversely correlated, and both
parameters exhibit pronounced sensitivity to the oxidation potential (
) of the biphenyl derivative and to
the solvent polarity. It has been observed that the quenching rate constant increases as the oxidation potential
of the biphenyl derivative decreases and increases as the solvent polarity increases whereas the efficiency of
singlet oxygen production increases with the oxidation potential and decreases with increasing solvent polarity.
When solvent viscosity changes are allowed for by calculating the diffusion controlled rate constant, k
d, it is
established that
/k
d values are comparable when the electrostatic interaction energy of charge transfer
complexes are taken as 0, 3, and 20 kJ mol-1 for acetonitrile, benzene, and cyclohexane, respectively. An
improved charge transfer mediated mechanism of quenching based on singlet and triplet channels for oxygen
quenching is invoked to discuss these results with the triplet channel only operating when charge transfer is
favorable. However, to get a good fit to the data, it is necessary to introduce direct formation of singlet
oxygen production from the singlet encounter complexes in competition with charge transfer assisted singlet
oxygen production. The free energy of activation for charge transfer assisted quenching by oxygen via singlet
and triplet channels is shown to have a linear dependence on the free energy change for full charge transfer,
but the indications are that quenching is via singlet and triplet charge transfer complexes with only partial
charge transfer character being 12.5%, 14.5%, and 17% in acetonitrile, benzene, and cyclohexane, respectively.
An explanation is offered as to why the less polar solvents show the larger fractional charge transfer in the
transition states involved in the quenching mechanism.