This work represents a systematic computational study of structural and optoelectronic properties of 24 phenylazo-2-naphthol derivatives using the DFT-B3LYP/6-31 + G(d,p) method. The positional isomers of azo compounds have been designed by introducing an azophenyl unit (with and without substituents) at three different (1-, 3-, and 4-) positions of 2-naphthols. This result shows that depending on the linking position of the azophenyl unit and substituents (NO2 and maleimide), the cis-azo, trans-azo, and hydrazo forms of our substituted azo derivatives possess distinguished UV-vis absorption and charge-transfer properties compared to unsubstituted Sudan I derivatives. Our MO calculations show that all Sudan-MI azo derivatives exhibit unique intramolecular charge transfer from the 2-naphthol-azo group as a donor to the maleimide (MI) group as an acceptor. Interestingly, whereas the trans-azo and hydrazo forms of Sudan-MI derivatives show ππ*CT and nπ*CT beside the ππ* and nπ* transitions, the cis-azo Sudan-MI derivatives exhibit mixed (nπ* + ππ*)CT along with ππ*CT, ππ*, and mixed (nπ* + ππ*) transitions. The nature and order of the main azo ππ* (S0 → S2) and nπ* (S0 → S1) transitions alter in Sudan-MI derivatives. The respective substitution of NO2 and MI groups in Para Red and Sudan-MI series leads to the bathochromic shift of λmax (due to π → π* transitions) in comparison to unsubstituted Sudan I derivatives, for example, the 4-positional Para Red trans-azo isomer (λmax 516.9 nm) is 93.8 nm and the 4-positional Sudan-MI trans-azo isomer (λmax 447.3 nm) is 24.2 nm red-shifted compared to the 4-positional Sudan I trans-azo isomer (λmax 423.1 nm). The cis-azo forms of all positional isomers having twisted geometries show different UV-vis spectral behaviors. In general, our studies demonstrate how the variation in the structure of azo compounds impacts their optoelectronic properties, which could be useful in electronic devices.
Read full abstract