IONIC STRENGTH EFFECTS ON THE GROUND STATE COMPLEXATION and TRIPLET STATE ELECTRON TRANSFER REACTION BETWEEN ROSE BENGAL and METHYL VIOLOGEN

Abstract— The equilibrium constants, K_c, for complexation between methyl viologen dication (MV²+) and Rose Bengal, or Eosin Y, decrease with increasing ionic strength. At zero ionic strength K_c is 6500 (± 500) mol^?1 dm³ for Rose Bengal and 3200 (± 200) mol^?1 dm³ for Eosin Y, and these values decrease to 1500 (± 100) and 680 (± 40) mol^?1 dm³, respectively, at an ionic strength of 0.1 mol dm^?3. K_c is independent of pH between 4.5 and 10. ΔH is -25 (± 1) kJ mol^?1 for complexation with either dye, whereas ΔS is -15 (± 3) J K^?1 mol^?1 for Rose Bengal, and - 23 (± 3) J K^?1 mol^?1 for Eosin Y. The complexation constant for Rose Bengal and the neutral viologen, 4,4'-bipyridinium-N, N'-di(propylsulphonate), (4,4'-BPS), is 420 (± 35) mol^?1 dm³, and independent of ionic strength. No complexation could be observed for either Rose Bengal or Eosin with another neutral viologen, 2,2'-bipyridinium-N,N'-di(propylsulphonate), (2,2'-BPS). MV²+ quenches the triplet state of Rose Bengal with a rate constant of 7 × 10⁹ mol^?1 dm³ s^?1, and this rate constant decreases slightly as ionic strength increases. The cage escape yield following quenching, Φ_cc is very low (Φ_cc= 0.02 (± 0.005), and independent of ionic strength. 4,4'-BPS quenches the triplet state of Rose Bengal with a rate constant of 2.2 (± 0.1) × 10⁹ mol^?1 dm³ s^?1, and gives a cage escape yield of 0.033 (± 0.006). 2,2'-BPS quenches the Rose Bengal triplet with a rate constant of 6 (± 1) × 10⁸ mol^?1 dm³ s^?1 and gives a cage escape yield of 0.07 (± 0.01). Conductivity measurements indicate that MV²+(Cl^?)₂ is completely dissociated at concentrations below 2 × 10^?2 mol dm^?3.