THE Py SCALE OF SOLVENT POLARITIES. SOLVENT EFFECTS ON THE VIBRONIC FINE STRUCTURE OF PYRENE FLUORESCENCE and EMPIRICAL CORRELATIONS WITH ET and Y VALUES

Abstract— Pyrene fluorescence spectra have been run in 62 solvents of widely differing solvent polarity. As has been noted previously, the intensity ratio of the first (the 0–0 band) and third bands in vibronic fine structure of these spectra are very sensitive to solvent polarity. These I 1 / I 3 values, however, are not sensitive to hydrogen bonding aspects of solvent‐solute interactions. Correlations are reported with Winstein's Y values and with Dimrotb's E T values. On this basis the I 1 / I 3 values for pyrene fluorescence are suggested as the basis for a new empirical scale of solvent polarity, called the Py scale, which offers certain conveniences over other scales of solvent polarity.