Gollnick K, Held S
Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität München, F.R.G.
J Photochem Photobiol B. 1990 Apr 1;5(1):85-93. doi: 10.1016/1011-1344(90)85007-j.
Merbromin, produced in many countries and used world wide as an antiseptic under the trademark "mercurochrome", is shown to be an efficient sensitizer for type II (singlet oxygen) photo-oxygenations by using 2-methyl-2-butene, (+)-limonene, (+)-alpha-pinene, alpha,alpha'-dimethylstilbenes and (--)-L-methionine as oxygen acceptors. Type I photo-oxygenations are negligible. An estimate of the quantum yield of singlet oxygen formation by merbromin in methanol gives a value of about 0.1.