IN SITUMEASUREMENT OF PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS IN MICRODROPLETS

A technique based on fluorescence scattering by microdroplets has been shown to be capable of measuring instantaneous rates of photochemical reactions in microdroplets. The technique has been applied to study trans -to-cis photoisomerization of thioindigo dye in single solution droplets suspended in an electrodynamic balance. Through an analysis it is shown that the concentration distributions of isomers remain uniform in a droplet under the experimental conditions; thus, the scattered fluorescence intensity from the droplet is proportional to the concentration of solely fluorescent trans isomer molecules. The steady-state scattered fluorescence intensity versus incident laser power data have been used to interpret the kinetics of the reaction. The results show that the rate constants can be determined from the scattered fluorescence intensity versus time data. The technique is particularly suitable when only one species fluoresces in the photo-reactive wavelength range while other species present in a droplet do not.