Solvent effects in optical spectra of ortho-aminobenzoic acid derivatives

We investigated three amino derivatives of ortho-aminobenzoic or anthranilic acid (o-Abz): a) 2-Amino-benzamide (AbzNH2); b) 2-Amino-N-methyl-benzamide (AbzNHCH3) and c) 2-Amino-N-N'-dimethyl-bezamide (AbzNH(CH3)2), see Scheme 1. We describe the results of ab-initio calculations on the structural characteristics of the compounds and experimental studies about solvent effects in their absorption and steady-state and time-resolved emission properties. Ab-initio calculations showed higher stability for the rotameric conformation in which the oxygen of carbonyl is near to the nitrogen of ortho-amino group. The derivatives present decrease in the delocalization of pi electron, and absorption bands are blue shifted compared to the parent compound absorption, the extent of the effect increasing from to Abz-NH2 to Abz-NHCH3 Abz-NH(CH3)2. Measurements performed in several solvents have shown that the the dependence of Stokes shift of the derivatives with the orientational polarizability follows the Onsager-Lippert model for general effects of solvent. However deviation occurred in solvents with properties of Bronsted acids, or electron acceptor characteristics, so that hydrogen bonds formed with protic solvents predominates over intramolecular hydrogen bond. In most solvents the fluorescence decay of AbzNH2 and AbzNHCH3 was fitted to a single exponential with lifetimes around 7.0 ns and no correlation with polarity of the solvent was observed. The fluorescence decay of AbzN(CH3)2 showed lifetimes around 2.0 ns, consistent with low quantum yield of the compound. The spectroscopic properties of the monoamino derivative AbzNHCH3 are representative of the properties presented by Abz labelled peptides and fatty acids previously studied.