Photophysical properties and photochemical rearrangement of single crystal salicylideneaniline in solution

Salicylideneaniline originally crystallized from a solution has lemon yellow color. Irradiation with near ultraviolet causes the color change from yellow to red. The red state changes spontaneously back to yellow in 2 ms. This change is accelerated by visible light. Kinetic data are reported in the temperature range between 10 and 60 °C, for the dark fading reactions of the colored isomers formed by the near ultraviolet irradiation. Observed the decay kinetics was first order reactions. Activation energies and entropies of activation are reported for ethanol. The observation of T–T absorption and emission were complicated due to the colored isomer formation during the optical pumping.