The Effect of Substituent Position on Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer in Benzoxazinone Derivatives: Experiment and DFT Calculation

The preparation and the photophysical behaviour of two benzoxazinone derivatives isomers 2-(1-hydroxynaphthalen-2-yl)-4H-benzo[e][1, 3]oxazin-4-one(1) and 2-(3-hydroxynaphthalen-2-yl)-4H-benzo[e][1, 3]oxazin-4-one(2) designed for displaying were reported. The effect of substituent position and solvent effect on the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) dynamics and the spectroscopic properties were investigated using a combined theoretical (i.e., time-dependent density function theory (DFT)) and experimental (i.e., steady-state absorption and emission spectra and time-resolved fluorescence spectra) study. The results showed that compound 1 would facilitate ESIPT process and favored the keto tautomer emission, while compound 2 suppressed the ESIPT process and favored the enol emission.