Prediction of photophysical properties of pyrimidine chromophores using Taguchi method

•The photophysical properties of pyrimidine chromophores have been studied.•The influence of three parameters has been studied by Taguchi methodology.•Internal charge transfer estimated by emission solvatochromy has been optimized.

This paper presents the photophysical properties of a series of pyrimidine chromophores. The influence of three parameters has been studied: the nature of the electron-donating group and of the π-conjugated linker as well as the substituted position of the pyrimidine core (2, 4 and 6 position). Taguchi design of experiment combined with analysis of variance methodologies have been employed. This approach has permitted to highlight the main factor affecting the absorption and emission wavelengths of the studied compounds. Absorption maxima of this family of compounds can be predicted with relatively good precision (±18 nm). The emission maxima can be also predicted, however the precision is lower (±39 nm). Taguchi methodology has been also employed with these families of compounds to optimize the intramolecular charge transfer estimated by emission solvatochromy.