Solvent effect on absorption and fluorescence spectra of cinchonine and cinchonidine dications: Estimation of ground and excited state dipole moments by experimental and numerical studies

Abstract

Absorption and fluorescence spectra of dications of cinchonine (C2 +) and cinchonidine (Cd2 +) have been measured at room temperature in solvents of different polarities. Ground and excited state electric dipole moments are determined experimentally using solvatochromic shift method based on bulk solvent properties. Theoretical calculations are done using B3LYP/6-31G(D) and CIS/6-31G(D) levels of theory for ground and excited states, respectively. Both experimental and theoretical studies reveal that excited state dipole moment (μe) values are higher than corresponding ground state dipole moment (μg) value of C2 + and Cd2 +, which is attributed to the higher polarity of excited states compared to the ground state polarity of these molecules.