The photokinetics of phenothiazine dyes with titanium trichloride in different solvents

Abstract

The kinetic parameters of photoinduced electron transfer reaction of two phenothiazine dyes, methylene blue and methylene green with titanium trichloride, were determined in water and different aqueous‐alcoholic solvents at different acidities by using a specially designed optical system. The rate of photoinduced electron transfer reaction was measured by determining the quantum yield of the reaction. The methylene green had a higher reactivity as compared to methylene blue with titanium trichloride. The graphical analysis showed that the reaction of dye with titanium trichloride follows pseudo–first‐order kinetics. A reaction mechanism was proposed by considering the different excited states of dye and their possible interaction with the solvent and titanium trichloride. The different steps in the reaction mechanism were taken into consideration for deriving rate equations, which were used to determine the different rate constants in the reaction mechanism in different solvents.