Direct measurement of the lowest excited singlet state lifetime of all-trans-β-carotene and related carotenoids

Michael R. Wasielewski*, Lowell D. Kispert

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

142 Scopus citations

Abstract

A 4 ps, 510 nm laser pulse was used to electronically excite toluene solutions of all-trans-β-carotene, canthaxanthin, and β-8'-apocarotenal. The 430-510 nm electronic absorption band of each carotene bleaches immediately upon excitation and recovers with single-exponential kinetics: τ = 8.4 ± 0.6 ps for all-trans-β-carotene, 5.2 ± 0.6 ps for canthaxanthin, and 25.4 ± 0.2 ps for β-8'-apocarotenal. The results are discussed in terms of the excited singlet state properties of carotenoids.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)238-243
Number of pages6
JournalChemical Physics Letters
Volume128
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 25 1986

Funding

The authorsw ish to thank ProfessorsT . Moore and D. Gust of Arizona State University for helpful discussions concerningt his problem. This work was supported by the Division of Chemical Sciences,O ffice of Basic Energy Science,D epartmento f Energy under contractsW -31-109-Eng-38( ANL) and DE-ASOS-76ER04062 (U of A).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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