Reversible isomerization of chromogenic dimers and the nature of azulene chromaticity

Abstract

The spectra of azulene solutions in siloxane and heptadecane were studied. The VIS band (435–714 nm) associated with the color blue was shown to transform reversibly as a result of a temperature increase and to assume a likeness to the less intensive VIS band typical for solutions in polar ethanol and dibutyl phthalate. It was concluded that supramolecular dimers rather than individual molecules are the chromogens of azulene, just as in the case of phthalocyanine, triphenylmethane, xanthene, and thiazine dyes. Clar’s conclusions regarding the nature of the visible band of azulene absorption and the mechanism of reversible thermal discoloration of azulene solutions in high-boiling-point hydrocarbons are consequently wrong. It was established that the thermochromism of azulene solutions is actually not associated with the isomerization of azulene molecules into nonplanar nonaromatic molecules but with the reversible isomerization of dimeric structures, accompanied by a change in the positions of the aromatic molecules relative to one another. The corresponding equilibrium is somewhat endothermic: ΔH = 6.6 kJ/mol, ΔG o ≈ − 1.45 kJ/mol. Based on these results, it was concluded that light absorption changes the energetic state of the dimeric structures (transition S D→ S D * ) without leading to electron transfer in single molecules according to the scheme S 0 →S 1. That is, the traditional idea that Kasha’s law is violated when azulene fluoresces is incorrect, since the radiation comes from the S 1 level and not from the S 2 level, as is stated in the literature.