CONCENTRATION DEPENDENCES OF GROUND-STATE AND EXCITED-STATE INTRAMOLECULAR PROTON TRANSFER OF PIROXICAM IN METHANOL

The absorption and fluorescence spectral properties of piroxicam (PRX) in the hydrogenbonding solvents show the most sensitive dependence on the concentration ranging from 8 x 10$^{_5}$ to 2 x10$^{_5}$ M. These are attributed to both the solvent-mediated ground-state intermolecular proton transfer (GSIerPT) leading to formation of the ground state anion and the excited-state intmmolecular proton transfer (ESIraPT). The concentration dependences of the time-resolved emission kinetics at both room temperature and 77 K have also been investigated. It is shown that in the excited state, the ESIraPT of PRX is the dominant process to form a keto tautomer at the high concentration, whereas at the low concentration the excited-state conformational change of the anion is an additional process leading to formation of a zwitterion. The ESI~PT of PRX in the hydrogenbonding solvent is coupled with the ultrafast excited-state solvent reorganization.