Evaluation of the acidic strengths on electronic ground and excited states of proton transfer dye using Excitation-Emission fluorescence matrix (EEM) and Multivariate Curve Resolution with Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS)

Abstract

Multivariate Curve Resolution with Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) was for the first time successfully used to evaluate an intricate photophysical behavior, where deprotonation on the electronic ground state (S0), intra and intermolecular proton transfer processes (ESPT and ESIPT) on the electronic excited state (S1) can simultaneously be presented. In this sense, the organic dye 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole (HBT) was used as a proof-of-concept model, where MCR-ALS showed to be a powerful tool for discriminate chemical reactions that occur concomitantly on different potential energy surfaces, which include photochemical reactions. As a result, the chemometric method showed to be a straightforward approach for the determination of the acidic strengths of those equilibria were estimated as 8.61 and 1.11 to hydroxyl deprotonation on electronic ground and excited states, respectively.