A versatile fluorescence approach to kinetic studies of hydrocarbon autoxidations and their inhibition by radical-trapping antioxidants.

We report a simple coumarin-triarylphosphine conjugate that undergoes fluorescence enhancement upon reaction with hydroperoxides and demonstrate its use to follow autoxidations of 7-dehydrocholesterol (at 37 °C) and hexadecane (at 160 °C) and their inhibition by antioxidants.