Versatile transamination in quinonediimine chemistry: Towards a novel class of water soluble UV/violet chromophores

The transamination reaction of 2,5-diaminobenzoquinonediimine (QDI) with ethylenediamine gave fluorescent 1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrazino2,3-g]quinoxaline (1). When the same reaction was carried out with N,N’-bis(aminoethyl)-1,3-propanediamine, a novel cationic quinoxalinium species (2) was isolated, which can be further condensed with p-cyanobenzaldehyde to afford a benzimidazolo-fused quinoxaline dye (3) that is a water-soluble fluorophore in the UV–visible range.