Properties of the electronically excited states of α-9-anthrylpolyenes are studied in n-hexane solutions by using optical absorption, emission and fluorescence excitation spectroscopy. The absorption spectra reveal a complex structure with contributions of both anthracene and polyene type bands but also of bands with mixed anthracence/polyene character. Small amounts of remaining impurities are chemically not separable but can be detected via fluorescence measurements. By computer-aided decomposition of spectra measured under variable selective excitation the actual, clearly chain-length dependent, fluorescences could be obtained
