Abstract: | Indigo and its dimer, trimer, dehydro, and leuco forms were investigated within the framework of the Pariser-Parr-Pople method. The electronic structures of the compounds in the ground and excited states and the effect of chain lengthening are discussed, and the UV absorption spectra are interpreted. Several characteristics of the chromaticity of the investigated compounds as representatives of vat dyes are examined. The estimated (from calculations) energetic favorability of the indigoid, dehydro, and leuco forms of indigo is used in discussing the observed and experimental ease of redox transformations of indigo.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 794–798, June, 1972. |