Structure of red and orange fluorescein

The structures of colorless, red, and yellow-orange fluorescein have been investigated by a combination of solution and solid state¹³C NMR. It is demonstrated that the three forms have lactonic, zwitterionic, and quinoid structures, respectively. Conflicting X-ray, NMR, and IR structural evidence is discussed for samples of red fluorescein which cannot readily be obtained in definite crystalline form. It is concluded that solid-state¹³C NMR spectroscopy is superior by revealing primarily the molecular structure but being fairly insensitive toward lattice variations.The Editors regret the long delay in having this paper printed due to an unfortunate administrative error.