Molecular interaction of oxazine dyes in aqueous solution: Temperature dependent molecular disposition of the aggregates

Temperature dependent molecular interaction of oxazine dyes, viz., brilliant cresyl blue (C.I. Basic dye), cresyl violet (C.I. Basic violet 3) and nile blue (C.I. Basic blue 12) are studied in aqueous media within a concentration range of 5.0 × 10^− 6 M to 8.0 × 10^− 4 M by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. The effect of temperature on the geometrical structure of the dimer in solution along with the dimerization equilibria is explained in terms of electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. Modified non-covalent interaction between two monomer molecules in a dimer as a function of temperature affects the extinction coefficient as well as the geometrical disposition of the dimers and this is well manifested in the exciton splitting of the dimer spectra. The angle θ between main oscillators of the two monomer molecules in a dimer increases by 1.94° for brilliant cresyl blue, whereas an increase of 4.32° and 1.73° were observed for cresyl violet and nile blue respectively due to the increase of temperature from 20 °C to 60 °C.