Pathways for Formation of Hydrated Electrons From Excited Phenol and Related Compounds

The dependence of primary photophysical and photochemical processes, especially of electron photoejection, in phenol and related compounds in aqueous solution on excitation intensity and excitation energy is examined. Theoretical and experimental evidence is presented for the possibility of three pathways for electron ejection: (1) A monophotonic pathway via the fluorescent state, which most probably does not involve the lowest triplet state; (2) a monophotonic pathway requiring higher excitation energies, which takes place in competition with internal conversion to the fluorescent state; and (3) a consecutive biphotonic pathway in which the lowest triplet state absorbs the second photon, and which can become predominant at high intensities, e.g. under flash conditions. It is shown that this model reconciles apparently conflicting results published in the literature.