Mitigation of photo-induced damage in excitation illuminated reactions and analyses utilizing such reactions results in an enhanced performance for the reactions and the analyses. There is provided a novel class of triplet-state quenchers for mitigating photo-induced damage which are both simple in structure and effective at preventing and/or reducing photo-induced damage to reaction components of excitation illuminated reaction mixtures. Also provided are methods of using the compounds of the invention, devices and kits incorporating the compounds of the invention.