Ion pairs of indobenzimidazolo cyanines: a structural study based on conductivity, absorption, fluorescence and H-1-NMR

Asymmetric benzimidazolo carbo, di- and tricarbocyanines form ion pairs of the solvent-separated and contact types with different counterions in tetrahydrofuran, toluene and toluene-nitrile mixtures. The dissociation constants of the ion pairs in tetrahydrofuran, evaluated from conductivity data, do not depend on the length of the polymethine chain and show only a small decrease with decreasing counterion size. The absorption and fluorescence excitation spectra of the contact ion pairs exhibit a pronounced hypsochromic shift with respect to the solvated ions and the solvent-separated ion pairs. H-1-NMR experiments have provided information about the electronic structures of the ions of both the asymmetric dyes and the corresponding symmetric carbocyanines. They have also revealed different preferred anion locations in the contact ion pairs of the symmetric indocarbocyanine on one hand, and of the benzimidazolo carbocyanine and the asymmetric dyes on the other. This structural difference is suggested to be a cause of the observed opposite effects of ion pairing on the isomerization kinetics of the two groups of dyes.