The ground and excited state processes of chlorin e6, the monomethyl ester C1, the glucose derivative C2 and the 3-heptylchlorin-glucose C3, were studied in solvents of lower and higher polarity. The excited singlet and lowest triplet states of C1-C3 were characterized by spectroscopic methods for several conditions. The quantum yields of formation of singlet molecular oxygen and the other triplet properties of the three chlorins and chlorin e6 are similar, whereas the fluorescence quantum yield decreases on going from C1 to C3. Time-resolved optoacoustic experiments revealed a ca. 30 kJ mol(-1) higher triplet level for C3 with respect to C1/2.