8-Hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ), referred as to oxine in analytical
chemistry, is a fluorogenic ligand. Its lack of
fluorescence in water and alkanes, and its low quantum yield in many
other organic solvents, are rationalized
in the present study in terms of photoinduced formation of a
nonfluorescent tautomeric form 8-HQ(T*). In
water, intermolecular proton transfers with surrounding water molecules
are expected, but intrinsic
intramolecular proton transfer between the −OH and ⩾N functions
cannot be ruled out because the presence
of a weak internal H bond can be inferred from the ground-state
properties of 8-HQ such as pK
a values
or
solubility. In organic solvents, vapor pressure osmometry
measurements in conjunction with infrared spectra
allow us to show that (i) in alkane solvents, a very stable dimer is
formed in the ground state (K
dim = 7
×
107 at 25 °C); biprotonic concerted proton transfers are
then expected to occur within the dimer upon excitation,
as was previously reported for 7-azaindole; (ii) in chlorinated
solvents (CH2Cl2, CHCl3),
hydration by residual
water molecules likely leads to a nonnegligible fraction of hydrated
open structures where excited-state proton
transfer is impaired; a weak fluorescence can then be observed
(ΦF ≈ 4 × 10-3).