A theoretical study of electronic spectra of radical cations of some dihydroxynaphthalenes

Electronic transition energies of radical cations of 1.2-, 1.3-, 1.6-, and 1.7?dihydroxynaphthalenes are calculated using an open-shell SCF method with configuration interaction. The results are critically analyzed and a correlation diagram is given that shows the energy-shift and intensity variation in the electronic transitions when moving from one system to another, thus revealing the characteristic behavior of the transitions depending on the positions of the hydroxyl substituents. An interesting relation connecting the electronic spectroscopy with the UV photoelectron spectroscopy is suggested on the basis of which the first ionization potentials (IPS ) of the substituted aromatic systems can be inferred from the calculated energy of the A-type (HOMO → LUMO ) transitions for their radical cations. Furthermore, the predictability of the IP s is found to be considerably increased with the incorporation of “molecular size” in the regression.