Photophysical properties of 1-acetoxy-8-hydroxy-1,4,4a,9a-tetrahydroanthraquinone: Evidence for excited state proton transfer reaction

The photophysical properties of 1-acetoxy-8-hydroxy-1,4,4a,9a-tetrahydroanthraquinone (HTHQ) have been investigated by steady state and time resolved spectroscopy in combination with quantum chemical calculations. The effects of various parameters such as the nature of solvent and pH of the medium on the spectral properties confirm the existence of different neutral and ionic species in the ground and excited states. In the ground state, HTHQ exists as intramolecularly hydrogen bonded closed conformer in non-polar and polar aprotic solvents. Apart from the closed conformer, the intermolecular hydrogen bonded solvated species and the anion of HTHQ are present in hydroxylic solvents. The closed conformer shows excited state intramolecular proton transfer in all solvents and the solvent polarity independent red shifted emission indicates only keto-enol tautomerism. Evaluation of the potential energy surfaces by quantum chemical calculation using density functional theory point towards the possibility of proton transfer reaction in the first excited state but not in the ground state.