TRIFLUOROETHANOL AS A SOLVENT FOR DISCRIMINATING THE FLUORESCENCE OF POLYNUCLEAR AZA-AROMATIC COMPOUNDS FROM THAT OF THE PARENT HYDROCARBON

Trifluoroethanol (TFE) is strongly hydrogen bonded to aromatic compounds containing a pyridinic nitrogen. For many aza-aromatic compounds this causes an increase in the fluorescence emission yield of up to two orders of magnitude and a change in the nature of the emission with respect to that observed in most common aliphatic alcohols. The emission from these aza-aromatic compounds in TFE is, in fact, a cation-like fluorescence. This allows the easy identification of the single components of a mixture of aromatic and aza-aromatic compounds. © 1990.