hetarylazopyrazolone dyes based on benzothiazole and benzimidazole ring systems: synthesis, spectroscopic investigation, and computational study

In this study, the synthesized coupling component 1-(2-benzothiazolyl)-3-methylpyrazol-5-one reacted with diazotised heterocyclic amines to afford six novel hetarylazopyrazolone dyes. These azo dyes based on benzothiazole and benzimidazole ring systems were characterized by spectral methods and elemental analyses. The solvatochromic behaviors of these dyes in various solvents were evaluated. The ground state geometries of the dyes were optimized using density functional theory (DFT). Solvent, acid-base, and substituent influences on the wavelength of the maximum absorption were examined in detail. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations were performed to obtain the absorption spectra of the dyes in various solvents and the results compared with experimental values. Besides, frontier molecular orbitals (FMO) analysis for the dyes is also described from the computational process.