Synthesis,photophysical properties and DFT studies of 2-(3-cyano-4-((2-(4,6-dimethyl-5-nitro-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridin-3-yl)hydrazono)methyl)-5,5-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-ylidene)malononitrile dye

The chromophore 2-(3-cyano-4-((2-(4,6-dimethyl-5-nitro-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridin-3-yl) hydrazono)methyl)-5,5-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-ylidene)malononitrile (PPHTCF) was synthesized through coupling of diazotized 3-amino-4,6-dimethyl-5-nitropyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine with 3-cyano-2-(dicyanomethylene)-4,5,5-trimethylfuran (TCF). The absorption solvatochromism behaviour of PPHTCF, in various solvents, presented ΔE_max = +5.40 where the positive sign suggested red shift occurrence, implying that the PPHTCF has more polar lowest excited state than its ground one. While, the PPHTCF fluorescence spectra afforded λ_em, in 575–633 nm range, and was more dependent on the solvent polarity than the absorption λ^max, despite both exhibited red shift by 58 and 42 nm, respectively. To discover the PPHTCF solvatochromism behaviour in term of “Stokes’ shift”, both of Lippert-Mataga and linear solvation-energy relationship (LSER) formulations have been utilized and the outcomes endorsed that the later was better than the former (R² = 0.9728). Finally, TD-DFT simulated absorption and emission spectra in EtOH revealed that λ^max has been resulted mainly from HOMO → LUMO; HOMO-5 → LUMO and HOMO-2 → LUMO transitions, respectively.