Energetics of Photophysical Processes in Chlorophyll‐like Molecules

The values of the absolute quantum yields of fluorescence and of intersystem crossing have been obtained for porphin and its derivatives by methods based on relative measurements involving flash photolysis. For a given compound the sum of these quantum yields is unity within experimental error which shows that the energetics of the molecules investigated is determined by competition of only two processes, viz., fluorescence and intersystem crossing, while internal conversion plays a negligible role. The values of the corresponding transition probabilities have been determined with the help of phase‐fluorometric measurements. The dependence of the transition probabilities on molecular structure is discussed.