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The absorption spectrum of cis-azobenzene

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Abstract

Azobenzene is a prototypical photochromic molecule existing in two isomeric forms, which has numerous photochemical applications that rely on a precise knowledge of the molar absorption coefficients (ɛ). Careful analysis revealed that the previously reported absorption spectra of the “pure” isomers were in fact mutually contaminated by small amounts of the other isomer. Therefore, the absorption spectra of both trans- and cis-azobenzene in methanol were re-determined at temperatures of 5-45 °C. The thermodynamically more stable trans-azobenzene was prepared by warming the solution in the dark. To obtain the spectrum of cis-azobenzene three methods were used, which gave consistent results within the limits of error. The method based on the subtraction of derivative spectra coupled with a global analysis of the spectra recorded during thermal cis-trans isomerization is shown to give slightly more reliable results than the method using isomeric ratios determined by 1H-NMR. The described methods are readily generalizable to other azobenzene derivatives and to other photochromic systems. The practical implication of the re-determined ɛ values is demonstrated by a very high precision of spectrophotometric species analysis in azobenzene isomeric mixtures. The new ɛ values imply that the previously reported quantum yields must be revised.

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Acknowledgements

Authors want to thank Roman Berânek, Peter Sebej, and Petr Klân for their support and fruitful discussions. The authors thank the Czech Science Foundation (GA15-12386S). The RECETOX research infrastructure was supported by the projects of the Czech Ministry of Education (LO1214 and LM2015051).

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Author notes

  1. Jamaludin Al Anshori

    Present address: Present address: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Padjadjaran University, Bandung-Sumedang km. 21, West Java, 45363, Indonesia

  2. These authors contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and RECETOX, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Kamenice 5/A8, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    L’ubica Vetráková, Vít Ladányi, Jamaludin Al Anshori & Dominik Heger

  2. Department of Physical Electronics, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Kotlářská 267/2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Pavel Dvořák

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 80, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Jakob Wirz

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  1. L’ubica Vetráková
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  2. Vít Ladányi
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Correspondence to L’ubica Vetráková or Jakob Wirz.

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Vetráková, L., Ladányi, V., Al Anshori, J. et al. The absorption spectrum of cis-azobenzene. Photochem Photobiol Sci 16, 1749–1756 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1039/c7pp00314e

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