Photochemistry of rose bengal in water and acetonitrile: a comprehensive kinetic analysis.

The photophysical and photochemical properties of rose bengal (RB) in degassed aqueous and acetonitrile solutions were studied using steady-state and transient absorption spectroscopies. This comprehensive investigation provides detailed information about the kinetics and the optical properties of all intermediates involved: the triplet excited state and the oxidized and reduced forms of RB. A full kinetic description is used to control the concentrations of these intermediates by changing the initial experimental conditions.