Oxford University MChem, PTCL Practical Course

Expt.

II04 Fluorescence

II 04

Fluorescence spectra and

measurement of the rate of electron
transfer by emission quenching
(Points value: 2)

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AIM
In this experiment you will study the fate of excited molecules in which fluorescence competes with
quenching, whereby energy is passed on to other molecules in solution.

EXPERIMENT OUTLINE
The experiment is in two parts. In part A you will gain experience using a fluorimeter by measuring the
fluorescence excitation spectrum and fluorescence emission spectrum of fluorescein; fluoresceins
absorption spectrum is also recorded.
Part B of the experiment uses the short lifetime of the excited state of Ru(bipy)32+ as an internal clock.
Under the conditions of the experiment, fluorescence competes with electron transfer to Fe3+ or Cu2+,
and the kinetics of the reactions are deduced from the degree by which the fluorescence is quenched.
From the rate constants for quenching the activation energy for the electron transfer is calculated, and
you will also determine whether the electron transfer reaction is diffusion or activation controlled.

Oxford University MChem, PTCL Practical Course

II04 Fluorescence

PRELAB. Experiment II04

Complete and hand to a demonstrator before you start work.

Name: .

College: ..

Date: ..

Demonstrator signature & mark

What is the principal hazard associated with this experiment? What steps must you take to work safely?

B
Define the terms Fluorescence, intersystem crossing, quenching, synchronous fluorescence (Continue
overleaf if necessary.)

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C
Explain briefly how it is possible in this experiment to get kinetic data by measuring the reduction in
light intensity of fluorescence (Continue overleaf if necessary.)

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II04 Fluorescence

SAFETY
Wear safety glasses when handling solutions in this experiment. Unlike most fluorimeters, whose
photomultipliers may be damaged by room light, the Varian fluorimeter that you will use can be
operated with the lid of the sample compartment open. However, UV radiation may be scattered from
the sample, so keep the lid closed during operation. Safety data on the chemicals used in this
experiment can be found in Appendix A and at the web site for the experiment, at
http://tlab.chem.ox.ac.uk/physchem/experiments/II04.html

RELEVANT LECTURE COURSES AND TOPICS

Lecture Courses: Molecular energy levels; molecular spectroscopy, valence and electronic spectroscopy;
modern liquid kinetics. Topics: Electronic transitions, fluorescence, electron transfer reactions, diffusion
vs activation control, BornOppenheimer separation, fluorescence quenching, SternVolmer plot. You
cannot do this experiment until you have either attended the photochemistry lectures, or covered the
relevant material in tutorial or background reading.

RECENT EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

Part 1B:

THEORY

7.1

Outline

2009, #4

2008, #1

2007, #1

If a molecule in solution is excited through absorption of radiation, it may dispose of the excess energy
in a variety of ways, including the emission of light. The amount of light emitted provides information
about the relative rates of the processes that are available to the excited molecule. This is taken
advantage of in this experiment, in which, by adding varying amounts of an ion which quenches
(prevents) the fluorescence of excited species, it is possible to determine the rate of quenching.
7.2

Fluorescence and phosphorescence

Electronically excited molecules may dispose of their excess energy through reaction, by a change of
oxidation state or spin multiplicity, by passing energy on to other molecules through collision, or by
emitting a photon. When a molecule in an excited singlet state emits a photon and thereby reaches
another singlet state, the process is known as fluorescence, this is generally a very rapid process1. If the
emission takes the molecule from an excited triplet state to a ground singlet state, (in other words,
there is a change of multiplicity), the process is much slower because the transition is spin forbidden;
this is phosphorescence.
Fluorescence spectroscopy, (in which, a little confusingly, we may study both fluorescent and
phosphorescent processes), is a technique of considerable practical importance. Its analytical sensitivity
approaches that of electrochemical methods or atomic absorption, since fluorescence from a sample is

Strictly, the term fluorescence covers a broader range of transitions than this, referring to any radiative electronic transition between states
of the same multiplicity. Transitions between singlet states are by far the most common.

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II04 Fluorescence

compared electronically with a reference of zero. (This contrasts with conventional UV/visible
absorption spectroscopy, in which weaklyabsorbing samples are detected as the small difference in
intensity of two bright beams; the weak absorption signal may be lost in instrument noise.)
The sensitivity of fluorescence also leads to application in crime investigation. Argonion lasers are used
to flood an area with intense blue light. Fingerprints are then revealed by their yellow fluorescence,
which can be seen by a viewer wearing bluefilter goggles (to both remove the blue light and to protect
the wearer from the laser radiation). Prints can be seen on porous materials, such as fabrics, which
would not be apparent using more conventional methods of detection. Since lasers are expensive, their
use in this fashion is normally limited to major crime.
7.3

Absorption and intersystem crossing

The molecular potential energy curve of the
singlet ground state S0 and of an excited state S1
of a typical organic molecule in solution are
shown in the diagram to the right. The
assumptions on which this type of diagram is
based are discussed in the photochemistry lecture
course. Since the excitation of an electron in a
large molecule has little effect on the nuclear
framework, the potential energy curves of the S0
and S1 states are usually similar, as are the
spacings of their vibrational levels.

Vibrational relaxation

Radiationless decay
Fluorescence

Absorption

The energy gaps between vibrational levels are large, so at room temperature most molecules are in
the vibrational ground state, v" = 0. The absorption spectrum thus arises from transitions from this
state to different vibrational levels v' of the S1 state2. Although transitions within a single potential
energy well (which give rise to IR spectra) are subject to the selection rule v = 1, no such rule applies
when the electronic state changes. We therefore can in principle observe transitions from the ground
state to any of the large number of vibrational states in the excited electronic state3. Collisions with
solvent rapidly remove excess vibrational energy from the molecules, bringing them down to the lowest
vibrational level, v' = 0. Frequently, electronic energy is also lost through radiationless processes, but
fluorescent molecules may emit a photon, and in this way return to one of the vibrational levels in the
ground state.
Although we might expect that the frequencies of the v = 0 v = 0 and v = 0 v = 0 transitions in
the fluorescence and absorption spectra would be identical, this is not always the case. Since the
ground and excited states have different electronic structures, their interactions with solvent molecules
are generally different, and the effect of the solvent may be to alter the energy of the excited state
once it has been formed. For most complex molecules in solution, the fluorescence efficiency (the ratio
of the amount of light emitted to that absorbed) is almost independent of the wavelength of the
exciting light.
Phosphorescence may occur if an electronically excited molecule converts to a triplet state T1 (inter
system crossing). Although the transition from T1 S0 which returns the molecule to the ground state
2

By convention, quantum numbers for the lower state are given a double prime, and those for the upper state a single
prime.
3
In practice the intensities of the transitions to the various excited vibrational levels differ, and can be related to the overlap
of the vibrational wavefunctions in the two states concerned, through the FranckCondon factor.

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II04 Fluorescence

is spin forbidden, the transition does take place in some molecules, (as a result of spinorbit coupling),
but only after a period of 104 1 s. Thus phosphorescence is very much slower than fluorescence.

7.4

Determination of the electron transfer rate constant

In the kinetics section of the experiment you will be using Ru(bipy)3 provided by the compound tris(2,2
bipyridine)ruthenium (II) chloride. When this compound is excited by absorption of a photon, the
species [R2+]*, where R = Ru(bipy)3, is left in a charge transfer excited state; an electron is partially
transferred from the metal atom to the antibonding orbitals of the ligand. The excited state, which lies
202 kJ mol1 above the ground state, may undergo a variety of processes, as shown below.
R2+ + h
R2+*

R2+*
R2+

R2+* + Mn+

R3+ + M(n1)+

Absorption (rate: Iabs)

Fluorescence, ISC, and
nonradiative decay (rate constant: ks)
Quenching (rate constant: kq)

The first step is excitation; the second represents all processes other than quenching which return the
excited molecule to the ground state. The final step represents the loss of energy by quenching, which
can occur through a variety of mechanisms, depending upon the identity of the quenching species.
In the reactions studied in this experiment the quenching involves oxidation of the ruthenium moiety,
but other quenchers are capable of reducing the ruthenium, or removing the excess energy without
affecting the oxidation state. In many cases, such as quenching by methyl viologen or ferric ion, this
step is believed to be an outer sphere electron transfer, during which the inner coordination spheres of
the reactant remain intact. Electron transfer, which often involves a contribution from tunnelling, is
much faster than ligand substitution, typically by several orders of magnitude (the time scales for
electron transfer and for nuclear motion are roughly 1015s and 1012s respectively). The quenching rate
constant then approaches the diffusioncontrolled limit of approximately 1010 M1 s1.
ks + kq [Mn+] p Iabs, so we can apply the steady state approximation to [R2+]*

[R

2 +*

]=

I abs
n+

k s + k q [M ]

(1)

I0 is the intensity of fluorescence when no quencher is present, and I the intensity in the presence of
quencher. Then

Io
I

= 1+

kq
ks

n+

[M ]

(2)

and a graph of I0/I vs [Mn+] (SternVolmer plot) yields a line of slope kq/ks. kq may then be found if ks is
known. From kq and ks the lifetime of the excited state, and the activation energy for the quenching
reaction can be found.
7.5

Calculation of a rate constant by Marcus theory

In an outer sphere redox reaction there is little interaction between the oxidant and reductant at the
moment of electron transfer. Marcus has developed a theory by which the electron transfer rate

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II04 Fluorescence

constant kq may be calculated from the equilibrium constant of the overall reaction and the self
exchange rate constants, which relate to the transfer of an electron between oxidized and reduced
forms of the same species. The theory is outside the scope of this experiment, but comparison of theory
with experiment allows one to determine whether the quenching reaction is diffusioncontrolled, and
this is a calculation which forms part of the experiment.

PROCEDURE
The optical system of a typical fluorimeter is shown in
the figure on the right. Light from a continuous or
pulsed xenon source is dispersed by the excitation
monochromator, and radiation of the selected
wavelength is directed onto the sample. Emission from
the
sample
passes
through
the
analysis
monochromator, and onto a detector which creates a
signal for driving a recorder or display on a computer.
Controls on the monochromators allow selection of
excitation and analysis wavelengths, and automatic
scanning by a single monochromator (to yield excitation
or emission spectra), or by both monochromators
simultaneously (to yield synchronous spectra).

8.1

Excitation
Monochromator
Xe
lamp

Sample

Analysis
Monochromator
Detector

Chart
recorder
Amplifier
Meter

Excitation and emission spectra of fluorescein

Your first task is to record the emission and excitation spectra of fluorescein. The emission spectrum
shows the intensity of light emitted as a function of the emission wavelength, for a selected excitation
wavelength; the excitation spectrum shows how the amount of emitted light at a chosen wavelength
varies as the wavelength of the exciting radiation is changed.

8.2

Preparation
Turn on power to the fluorimeter, printer and computer. Wait for one minute for the fluorimeter to
complete any initialisation, then in the Cary Eclipse window on the computer doubleclick on the Scan
application icon; this will start the first application you need.
Half fill a UV plastic sample cell with the solution of fluorescein in NaOH supplied; do not fill to the top,
or you may spill solution in the sample compartment. Hold the cell near the top; remember that
fingerprints on the cell faces will fluoresce. Note that you must use the sample cells with four clear
sides, not those with two clear sides.
Slide back the sample compartment lid of the spectrometer and place the sample in the black sample
holder. Close the lid.

8.3

Finding the emission and excitation wavelengths that give maximum emission
The majority of your interaction with the spectrometer will be through the Setup menu, but it is useful
to use Prescan to start with. Prescan will automatically locate the emission and excitation wavelengths
which give the maximum emission intensity. Click on Prescan and then OK.

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Once Prescan has been started the process is entirely automatic. The instrument will scan repeatedly as
it tries to find suitable wavelengths, and adjusts the power supplied to the photomultiplier detector in
order to keep the signal on scale. You will notice that the screen flickers as this process occurs; this is
because every time the software needs to rescale the plot the screen redraws this is entirely normal.
The process will halt once the optimum wavelengths have been found, and they and the PMT voltage
will be reported; record these in your data book. (If the process continues indefinitely, the sample
probably has such a feeble emission that the instrument is unable to find it. Press the Stop button and
call a demonstrator.)
When the Prescan is complete, print the spectra using the Print function in the File menu. The plot will
show the excitation spectrum, which will cover the entire scanned range, and the emission spectrum,
which will cover the range from the optimum excitation wavelength upwards to higher wavelengths,
since no emission occurs to shorter wavelength of the exciting line.
You can delete unwanted spectra using the remove graph option in the Graph menu, and can expand
one spectrum to fill the entire display window by using the Multigraph option in the same menu.
8.4

Gathering the complete emission spectrum

Select Setup and check that the excitation wavelength is set to that previously found. Ensure that the
Data Mode is set to Fluorescence and in the Scan Setup the Emission button is depressed. Choose
emission between 300 nm and 800 nm, a medium scan rate, click on OK and press the Start button.
Print the resulting spectrum, after rescaling if necessary.
The light emitted during fluorescence necessarily has a wavelength equal to or longer than the
wavelength of the exciting light, since some of the energy of the absorbed photon is degraded to heat.
It follows that emission will only be seen at wavelengths greater than the excitation wavelength.
However, some scattered light may be found when excitation and emission wavelengths are equal, due
to Rayleigh scattering and scattering of incident light by dust suspended in the solution.
Dilute the fluorescein solution with 0.1M NaOH if the fluorescence intensity is high, since dilution will
reduce distortion of the fluorescence spectrum by selfabsorption.
Now set the excitation wavelength at the maximum near 320 nm and run and print an emission
spectrum over the wavelength range 200800 nm. In your report, comment on any features of interest
in this spectrum.

8.5

Absorption spectrum of fluorescein

Record on a UV/visible spectrometer the visible absorption spectrum of the fluorescein solution. Since a
reference solution for the spectrum (0.1M NaOH) would be colourless, no reference is needed. (The
spectrometers may be in use, in which case a little diplomacy will be required! Your spectrum should
take only 10 minutes to gather ).

8.6

Fluorescence quenching
You will now measure the fluorescence intensity at selected wavelengths for a series of solutions
containing ruthenium ion, using these readings to determine the extent to which the fluorescence is
quenched by added ions.

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Concentration of sample solutions

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m

[Fe3+]

[Cu2+]

[Ru(bipy)32+]

H2SO4

0
0.2 x103 M
0.4 x103 M
0.8 x103 M
1.2 x103 M
1.6 x103 M
1.8 x103 M
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.02 M
0.04 M
0.08 M
0.12 M
0.16 M
0.18 M

1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M
1x105 M

0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M
0.5 M

Make up in 10 cm3 volumetric flasks the solutions listed in the table. You are provided with stock
1 x 104 M Ruthenium, 2 x 103 M Fe3+, 0.2 M Cu2+ (all in 0.5 M H2SO4), and 0.5 M H2SO4. Note that the
final concentration of acid in each solution is the same, so you should be using the dilute acid to make
solutions up to the mark, not water.
Sulphuric acid fluoresces in the ultraviolet, so to avoid your data being affected by fluorescence from
the solvent, your excitation and emission wavelengths for the Ruthenium compound must be well
removed from the wavelengths associated with fluorescence from the acid. A convenient way to
prevent sulfuric acid fluorescence from interfering with the experiment is to use plastic UV cells which,
while they are transparent to low energy UV wavelengths, do not pass the very short wavelengths
required to excite sulfuric acid.
Since different types of plastic transmit at different wavelengths, you must first record the uv/visible
absorption spectrum of an empty plastic cell to determine the wavelengths over which the cell absorbs;
use the lambda5 or a UV2 spectrometer for this. Sulfuric acid absorbs strongly around 235 nm. If your
cell is transparent at this wavelength, ask the technician for replacement cells, otherwise you may
proceed with the remainder of the experiment.
Half fill a cell with sample (a), and use the Prescan option to determine the emission and excitation
wavelengths that correspond to maximum fluorescence. Print out the combined emission/excitation
spectrum which Prescan generates.
IMPORTANT NOTE! You need now to check that these emission and excitation wavelengths are
appropriate. Even using a plastic cell, it is possible that the excitation wavelength which the instrument
has found might be in or close to the UV region of the spectrum. If this is so, the experiment will not
work correctly. You should now gather a quick UV/visible spectrum, using any of the UV/visible
spectrometers in the lab, of either the copper or the iron solution and inspect this to try to determine
why using an excitation wavelength in the UV would be a bad idea.
If the fluorimeter has chosen an excitation wavelength below 400nm, the value is too low for the
quenching experiment to give good results. You should in this case conduct a prescan to find an

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II04 Fluorescence

excitation wavelength above 400nm, and a suitable emission wavelength (which will be at least 25 nm
greater than the excitation wavelength) to go with it. You may then proceed.
To acquire quantitative data, it is desirable to set the slit widths for emission and excitation to the
smallest values consistent with a good signaltonoise ratio. These slit widths may have been set by the
software to 5nm. After setting your chosen emission wavelength, reduce both slits to 1 or 2.5nm and
record the fluorescence spectrum to check whether the signaltonoise ratio is adequate with this
setting of slit width. A smooth emission curve with little visible irregularity is required.
If necessary, make further changes to the instrument parameters to give the most suitable emission
curve for analysis.
Record the emission and excitation wavelengths you intend to use for the final part of the experiment.
8.7

Measuring fluorescence intensity in the presence of a quencher

You need to use a different computer program for this part of the experiment, so exit from the Scan
application and doubleclick on the Concentration application.
Remove the sample cell from the fluorimeter. Choose Setup and click on the Standards tab. Enter 2 as
the number of standards, and give their concentrations as 0.0 (Std1) and 1.0 (Std2). The first standard
will be a sulfuric acid blank (the 0.5M acid used in all solutions), the second will be your solution (a).
Now select the Samples tab, set the number of samples to 12 and enter suitable labels for your samples
(b) (m). Click OK. Select the Cary tab, and set the emission and excitation wavelengths which you
determined in the last step.
Remove any plots on screen and clear the report box, then press Start.
Select for analysis Std1, Std2 and your six ironcontaining samples. When the dialogue box appears,
highlight Std1, insert a cell containing the sulfuric acid blank into the spectrometer and click OK to
request the instrument to record the fluorescence (which will be close to zero, since the acid solution
should not give a significant signal if you have chosen the emission and excitation wavelengths wisely).
When requested, place the cell containing solution (a) (your second standard) into the cell holder,
record the fluorescence, then enter samples (b) (g) as requested. Once all your Fe3+containing
solutions have been entered, do not feed in any more solutions, but print out the plot and the report.
After printing the report, clear it and repeat the procedure using your sulfuric acid blank, the standard
solution (a) and samples (h) (m).
When you have taken all the measurements, remove any sample, exit from the Cary control program
and turn the fluorimeter off. Unscrew the knurled wheel in the centre left of the black sample holder,
and carefully lift it out. Wipe the holder clean with a tissue. If there appears to be any liquid spilt into
the body of the holder, give it to the technician to clean. Check that no waste has spilled into the
fluorimeter sample area, then close the lid.

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II04 Fluorescence

CALCULATION
On a single graph draw the absorption, excitation and emission spectra for fluorescein after normalizing
the peak of each spectrum to unity. Explain the features of the spectra.
Comment on the spectrum gathered using excitation at 320 nm.
Use SternVolmer plots to find kq for the quenching of Ru(bipy)32+ by Fe3+ and Cu2+. ks, the rate constant
for spontaneous decay of (Ru(bipy)32+), which includes contributions for all processes other than
quenching, is 1.67 106 s1.
From the rate constant for quenching the activation energy for this process, DE, can be found, using the
equation kq = z12 exp(DE/RT), in which z12 is a collision number, and for a solution is approximately
1011 M1 s1. Use this equation to determine values for the activation energy for the quenching reaction
with iron and with copper ions.
For diffusioncontrolled reactions (those in which the ratedetermining step is diffusion together of the
reactant species, rather than the acquisition of activation energy), DE is approximately 10 to 14 kJ mol1.
(This figure, representing the energy released as the activated complex is formed, balances a roughly
equivalent amount of energy required to bring the reactants together against the resistance provided
by the solvation shells; the reaction forming the activated complex is then energetically neutral).
Comment on the extent to which the quenching reactions involving iron or copper ions approach the
diffusioncontrolled limit.
Finally, calculate the halflife of the excited ruthenium complex in the presence of each quencher, and
suggest a method which could be used to determine the fluorescence halflife of the complex in the
absence of quencher.

APPENDIX A

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES, HAZARDS AND TREATMENT

Fluorescein is not harmful if handled with normal care. Dilute sodium hydroxide is harmful on the skin and may
cause significant eye damage; wear safety glasses whenever you handle this chemical. Copper (II) sulfate is harmful
if swallowed, but should present no danger in normal use. Dilute sulfuric acid is corrosive but should present no
danger if handled with care.

September 17, 2009.

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