Azo-hydrazone tautomerism of aryl azo pyridone dyes

In the last three or four decades disperse dyes derived from pyridones (in particular azo pyridone dyes) have gained in importance, and are widely used in various fields. These compounds have excellent coloration properties, and are suitable for the dyeing of polyester fabrics. Basic features of these dyes are simplicity of their synthesis by diazotation and azo coupling. They generally have high molar extinction coefficient with medium to high light and wet fastness. The absorption maxima of these dyes show their visible absorption wavelength ranging from yellow to orange, which can be attributed to poorly delocalized electrons in the pyridone ring. However, there are several dyes with deep colors such as red or violet. Pyridone dyes with alkyl and aryl groups in ortho position to azo group show 2-pyridone/2-hydroxypyridine tautomerism, while those containing OH and NHR groups conjugated with the azo group show azo-hydrazone tautomerism. Determining azo-hydrazone tautomerism could be therefore interesting, since the tautomers have different physico-chemical properties and most importantly different coloration. The literature on azo-hydrazone tautomerism, determination of equilibrium position, and investigation of substituent and solvent influence on tautomerism has been summarized in the presented review. The general conclusion is that the equilibrium between two tautomers is influenced by the structure of the compounds and by the solvents used. The tautomeric behavior patterns of the arylazo pyridone dyes in the reviewed literature has been studied using various instrumental techniques, including FT-IR, UV-vis, and NMR spectroscopy. The quantum chemical calculations related to the azo-hydrazon tautomerism have also been included. A large number of pyridone dyes exist in hydrazone form in solid state, while in solvents there is a mixture of tautomers. In addition, the X-ray single-crystal diffraction data analysis of some commercial pyridone dyes has been discussed concluding that they all crystallize in the hydrazone form.