Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.101, No.48, 9050-9060, 1997
Solvent and solvent density effects on the spectral shifts and the bandwidths of the absorption and the resonance Raman spectra of phenol blue
We have measured the absorption and the resonance Raman spectra of a solvatochromic dye, phenol blue, in liquid and supercritical solvents. We have found anomalous solvent dependence of the absorption bandwidth in liquid solvents: the width has apparently no correlation with the absorption peak shift. On the other hand, we have found good linear correlation between the absorption peak shift and the peak position of the resonance Raman bands (the C=N and the C=O stretching modes). The relative intensities of the Raman bands and the bandwidth of the C=N stretching mode also show correlation with the absorption peak shift. Incorporating these Raman data, the anomalous bandwidth of the absorption spectrum is explained by the change of the intramolecular vibrational contribution to the absorption bandwidth due to the electronic structure change by the solvent, which cancels the change of the solvent contribution. We have estimated the solvent reorganization energy assuming linear dependence of the intramolecular contribution on the absorption band center and neglecting the solvent reorganization energy in alkanes such as ethane and cyclohexane. In liquid solution, the estimated solvent reorganization energy is correlated fairly well with the absorption peak shift. Solvent dependence of the Raman bandwidth of the C=N stretching mode resembles the solvent dependence of the solvent reorganization energy estimated in this way. Relatively large bandwidths of both absorption and resonance Raman spectra have been observed in supercritical solvents compared with those in liquid solvents of a similar absorption peak shift. We interpreted this as due to the small refractive indices of the supercritical solvents relative to the liquid solvents; the large refractive indices of the liquid solvents only make the absorption peak shifts without broadening the absorption spectra.