Intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer in 9-(p-N,N-dimethylanilino)phenanthrene (9DPhen) has been studied in solution. The solvent dependence of the fluorescence spectra of 9DPhen indicates that the emission occurs from a highly polar excited state. The quantum yield of fluorescence (Phi(f)) of 9DPhen is quite high and increases with increasing solvent polarity. The radiative rate constant (k(f)), however, shows a maximum for solvents of intermediate polarity, e.g., in butyl acetate a value of 2.3 x 10(8) s(-1) is attained. These results are difficult to explain within the "TICT" (twisted intramolecular charge transfer) model, which predicts a strongly forbidden fluorescence caused by a minimum overlap of the orbitals involved in the transition.