Term: radiative energy transfer https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.R05063 Definition: Transfer of excitation energy by radiative deactivation of a donor molecular entity and reabsorption of the emitted radiation by an acceptor molecular entity. Notes: 0) Radiative transfer results in a decrease of the donor @F02453@ intensity in the region of @S05818@. Such a distortion of the @F02453@ spectrum is called inner-@F02384@ effect. 1) Radiative energy transfer depends on the shape and size of the vessel utilized and on the configuration of the latter with respect to excitation and observation. 2) The fraction a of photons emitted by D and absorbed by A is given by \[a = \frac{1}{\mathit{\Phi}_{\text{D}}^{0}}\int _{_{\lambda }}I_{\lambda}^{\text{D}}(\lambda)\left [ 1 - 10^{-\varepsilon_{\text{A}}(\lambda)c_{\text{A}}\, l} \right ]\text{d}\lambda\] where cA is the molar concentration of acceptor, ΦD0 is the @F02453@ @Q04991@ in the absence of acceptor, l is the thickness of the sample, IλD(λ) and ɛA(λ) are the @S05813@ of the @S05827@ of the donor @F02453@ and the @M03972@ of the acceptor, respectively, with the @NT07086@ condition ΦD0 = ∫(λ).IλD(λ).dλ.For relatively low @A00028@, a can be approximated by \[a = \frac{2.3}{\mathit{\Phi}_{\text{D}}^{0}}c_{\text{A}}\, l\int _{\lambda}I_{\lambda}^{\text{D}}(\lambda)\varepsilon_{\text{A}}(\lambda)\text{d}\lambda\] where the integral represents the overlap between the donor @F02453@ spectrum and the acceptor @A00043@. Related Terms: 1) fluorescence (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.F02453). 2) spectral overlap (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.S05818). 3) filter (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.F02384). 4) quantum yield (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.Q04991). 5) spectral distribution (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.S05813). 6) spectral radiant intensity (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.S05827). 7) molar decadic absorption coefficient (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.M03972). 8) normalization (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.NT07086). 9) absorbance (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.A00028). 10) absorption spectrum (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.A00043). 11) excitation energy (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.E02250). 12) deactivation (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.D01528). Source: PAC, 2007, 79, 293. 'Glossary of terms used in photochemistry, 3rd edition (IUPAC Recommendations 2006)' on page 411 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200779030293) Citation: 'radiative energy transfer' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.R05063 License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.