A study of solvent dependence and proton transfer kinetics of 2,6-diphenylphenol

Department of Chemistry, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar-608 002, India

Manuscript received 18 January 2000. accepted 20 April 2000

Absorption and fluorescence solvatochromic shifts of 2,6-diphenylphenol reveal the presence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding in a non-polar solvent and intermolecular hydrogen bonding in polar solvents. The stretched sigmoidal fluorimetric titration curves indicate that the rates of excited state proton transfer are comparable to the rates of deactivation of conjugate pair. These curves are analysed using life-times of the species. The excited state equilibrium constants determined from rate constants and by other methods are compared.