Three-state 2',7'-difluorofluorescein excited-state proton transfer reactions in moderately acidic and very acidic media

2',7'-Difluorofluorescein (Oregon Green 488, OG488) is a novel fluorescein dye derivative which presents important advantages for improving the fluorimetric applications in the biomedical and biochemical sciences. In aqueous solution it displays four prototropic forms, namely cation (C), neutral (N), monoanion (M), and dianion (D). In previous works, we found (J. Phys. Chem. A 2005, 109, 734-747, 2840-2846) that OG488 undergoes excited-state proton transfer reactions, which may affect the results from applications using this dye. We established that the excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) reactions between neutral, monoanionic, and dianionic forms of OG488 are promoted by acetate buffer, and we characterized the ground and excited species involved. We also solved the kinetics of the prototropic reactions using global compartmental analysis. In the present paper, we extend our study on the ESPT reactions of OG488 to acidic media, in which only the three prototropic species cation, neutral, and monoanion coexist. We have solved the kinetics of the three-state ESPT reaction by means of global three-compartmental analysis of a fluorescence decay surface in moderately acidic media (pH between 1.1 and 3.0), recovering the kinetic and spectral parameters of this three-state system. This system is one of the most complex solved to date, due to the strong overlap of the absorption and emission spectra of the neutral and monoanionic forms of OG488. We also found that the cation behaves as "super" photoacid, showing a very high deprotonation rate constant (1.04 x 10(11) s(-1)) and an enhanced acidity. Therefore, we also carried out experiments at very high perchloric acid concentrations, dealing with some other effects which become noteworthy at these H(+)]. The presence of xanthylium cation quenching due to "free" water molecules, and the reduction in the amount of water clusters acting as proton acceptors, are processes which alter notably the time course of the excited-species in this high H(+)] range.