%0 Journal Article %T Singlet oxygen quantum yields (¦µd) in water using beetroot extract and an array of LEDs %A Bonacin %A Juliano A. %A Engelmann %A F¨¢bio M. %A Severino %A Divinomar %A Toma %A Henrique E. %A Baptista %A Mauricio S. %J Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society %D 2009 %I Sociedade Brasileira de Qu¨ªmica, SBQ %R 10.1590/S0103-50532009000100006 %X it is proposed a simple and inexpensive strategy to determine singlet oxygen (1o2) quantum yields (¦Õ¦Ä) of photosensitizers (ps) in water using beetroot extract containing betacyanin (bc) and a set of light emitting diodes (leds) for excitation. bc, a cationic natural dye, was obtained by flash chromatography purification from the red beet extract (beta vulgaris) and employed as a convenient probe for 1o2 detection. solutions of bc and ps were illuminated with an array of leds adapted in the cuvette compartment of a commercial spectrophotometer, and the decrease in bc absorbance was followed as a function of time. bc photobleaching decreased in de-aerated solution and increased in d2o, indicating the involvement of 1o2. the observed photobleaching rate constant (kobs) was proportional to the led intensity, concentration and ¦Õ¦Ä of the ps. by keeping the light source constant we could estimate the overlap integral (r) between the led emission and ps absorbance for different ps concentrations. the slope of r versus kobs is the value of the photobleaching rate constant (k), which was shown to be proportional to ¦Õ¦Ä. values of ¦Õ¦Ä obtained by this method were compared with those obtained by measuring nir (near infrared) emission for a series phenothiazine dyes. %K beetroot %K betacyanin %K quantum yield %K singlet oxygen %K phenothiazines %K photodynamic therapy. %U http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0103-50532009000100006&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en