Vibrational spectra of certain triphenylmethane dyes and their structure in solution

A combined analysis of two types of vibrational spectra (Raman and infrared) has proven the lactone structure of colorless solid preparations of phenolphthalein and thymolphthalein. It has been shown that phenolsulfophthalein, its alkyl derivatives, and bromcresol purple exist in the solid state primarily in the form of an intensely colored zwitterion; bromphenol blue and bromthymol blue exist primarily in the form of a colorless sultone. For the ionized forms of triphenylmethane dyes (cationic and anionic chromophore systems) vibrations with a frequency near 1360 cm^–1 are characteristic in the IR spectra and also in the Raman spectra.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 26, No. 6, pp. 688–698, November–December, 1990.