Spectroscopic studies of intermolecular hydrogen bonding and proton transfer complexes of chromotropic acid with some amines in methanol

The proton transfer reactions between chromotropic acid (CTA) and some amines including benzylamine (BA), triethylamine (TEA), pyrrolidine (PY) and 1,8-bis(dimethylamino) naphthalene (DMAN) have been investigated spectrophotometrically in methanol. A long wavelength band at 365 nm has been recorded due to the proton transfer (PT) complex formation. The proton transfer equilibrium constants KPT were estimated utilizing the minimum–maximum absorbances method. It has been found that KPT were not depend on the amine pKa values, but strongly depend on the formed structures of the PT complexes. Job’s method of continuous variations and photometric titrations were applied to identify the compositions of the formed PT complexes where 1:1 complexes (proton donor: proton acceptor) were produced. Due to the rapidity and simplicity of the proton transfer reactions and the stability of the formed complexes, a rapid and accurate spectrophotometric method for the determination of CTA was proposed for the first time.