Abstract: Room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) involves the measurement of phosphorescence irradiated by molecules illuminated with a source of ultraviolet light. In RTP, analyte molecules are adsorbed onto solid substrate materials, such as filter paper and silica gel, and analyzed for their characteristic phosphorescence emission. In these studies, RTP test methodologies and applications of RTP are evaluated for their effectiveness in demonstrating the analytical utility of the technique. Improvements are made in sample-compartment design and in sampling procedures currently used in RTP. A list of compounds exhibiting RTP is made to add to the present compilation of molecules known to phosphoresce at room temperature. Trends in phosphorescence intensities are indicated for groups of "homologous" compounds; generalizations are made for such trends, but no mechanisms are described. Finally, RTP is used for the determination of a variety of drugs in pharmaceutical formulations, over-the- counter preparations and blood serum. While RTP has been shown to be a viable method of chemical analysis, real -sample applications have been limited. Thus, these latter studies represent significant accomplishments in RTP test methodologies. The procedures reported here are quite simple and specific for the determination of a variety of compounds in real samples. Dissertation Discovery Company and University of Florida are dedicated to making scholarly works more discoverable and accessible throughout the world. This dissertation, "Room Temperature Phosphorescence" by Ricky P. Bateh, was obtained from University of Florida and is being sold with permission from the author. A digital copy of this work may also be found in the university's institutional repository, IR@UF. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation.