Photophysical parameters of ellipticine were compared to those of its 6-methyl derivative in various solvents. Since both compounds emitted dual fluorescence in methanol and ethylene glycol, the band peaking at low energy cannot be due to a tautomer formed via solvent-assisted excited-state proton transfer but originates from photoinduced protonation by the solvent. The mechanism and kinetics of the processes undergoing in the excited-state in the presence of OH- were revealed in methanol. Addition of OH- caused quenching for the excited ellipticine, whereas back-formation of the neutral excited compound proved to be the only important photochemical reaction of the protonated species. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.