Lifetime recovery for species participating in complex kinetics. Application to the reversible excimer

A new method for the determination of intrinsic lifetimes of excited species participating in a complex mechanism is presented. This method is independent of the mechanism itself, and only requires that the interacting species maintain their identity and exist in a known number. The method is applied to the determination of the excimer lifetime of pyrene in cyclohexanol from 25 to 85°C. An activation energy of 12±1 kJ mol −1 is calculated from the reciprocal excimer lifetime Arrhenius plot.