Chromatic equivalence classes of complete tripartite graphs

Some necessary conditions on a graph which has the same chromatic polynomial as the complete tripartite graph K_m,n,r are developed. Using these, we obtain the chromatic equivalence classes for K_m,n,n (where 1≤m≤n) and K_m1,m2,m3 (where |m_i−m_j|≤3). In particular, it is shown that (i) K_m,n,n (where 2≤m≤n) and (ii) K_m1,m2,m3 (where |m_i−m_j|≤3, 2≤m_i,i=1,2,3) are uniquely determined by their chromatic polynomials. The result (i), proved earlier by Liu et al. [R.Y. Liu, H.X. Zhao, C.Y. Ye, A complete solution to a conjecture on chromatic uniqueness of complete tripartite graphs, Discrete Math. 289 (2004) 175-179], answers a conjecture (raised in [G.L. Chia, B.H. Goh, K.M. Koh, The chromaticity of some families of complete tripartite graphs (In Honour of Prof. Roberto W. Frucht), Sci. Ser. A (1988) 27-37 (special issue)]) in the affirmative, while result (ii) extends a result of Zou [H.W. Zou, On the chromatic uniqueness of complete tripartite graphs K_n1,n2,n3 J. Systems Sci. Math. Sci. 20 (2000) 181-186].