Optical absorption of 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]quinoline and its derivatives

The results of experimental studies and quantum chemical simulations of the absorption spectra of 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]quinoline and its derivatives are presented. The quantum chemical calculations (semi-empirical AM1 and PM3 methods) show similarity in the absorption spectra of 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]quinoline and 1,3-dimethyl-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]quinoline which are characterized by five strong absorption bands in the spectral range 200-500 nm. A substitution of the methyl groups by at least one phenyl group causes the drastic changes of the absorption spectra mainly within the spectral range 240-370 nm. We attribute these differences to additional molecular double bonding segments C=C of the substituted phenyl groups, i.e. to pi --> pi* transitions. A comparison of measured and the calculated absorption spectra manifests quite satisfactory agreement for all compounds in the part regarding the spectral position of the first oscillator (absorption threshold). At the same time, the measured spectra demonstrate the considerable broadening practically of all absorption bands and even complete damping some of them in the case of phenyl derivatives. The experiments performed with highly and weakly polar organic solvents shows that the solvent effect on the absorption spectra is small. For this reason the discrepancies between the calculated and the measured spectra are attributed to electron-vibronic coupling as well as to rotational dynamics of phenyl rings.