This chapter provides an overview of the chemical structures and properties of aromatic amines and their role in the development and utility of azo dyes. Approaches to the design of environmentally benign alternatives to genotoxic primary aromatic amines, as azo dye precursors, are included.

The synthesis and photophysical characterization of new conjugated polymers (CPs) with alternating phenylethynylene and diazobenzene (azo-PPE) units were reported, which showed broadened absorption and no measurable fluorescence. Quenching studies showed that azo-PPEs displayed high efficiency over a wide wavelength range.

The phenylboronic acids substituted with an azo group on the ortho-position show a significant change in UV-vis spectra upon sugar binding. A new mechanism for the spectral change of the dyes is proposed based on the formation and cleavage of B-N dative bond between boronic acid group and azo group.

The effect of different artificial redox mediators on the anaerobic reduction of azo dyes by Sphingomonas sp. strain BN6 or activated sludge was investigated. Reduction rates were greatly enhanced in the presence of sulfonated anthraquinones. For strain BN6, the presence of both cytoplasmic and membrane-bound azo reductase activities was shown.

The O(2)-sensitive reduction of high-molecular-weight aromatic azo and nitro dyes by intestinal bacteria appears to be mediated by low-molecular-weight electron carriers with E(o)' = -200 to -350 mV. This process may allow the design of polymeric azo prodrugs for specific release of certain aromatic amines in the colon.

A cleavable azo linker was synthesized and reacted with 5-(6)-carboxytetramethyl rhodamine succinimidyl ester, followed by further reactions with di(N-succinimidyl) carbonate and 5-(3-amino-1-propynyl)-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate [dUTP(AP3)] to obtain the terminal product dUTP-azo linker-TAMRA as a potential reversible terminator for DNA sequencing by synthesis with no need for 3'-OH blocking.

Reversible fluorescence photoswitching of RSA-AZO dyad 1 was clearly demonstrated in an acidic aqueous solution. The fluorescence photoswitching mechanism is based on the reversible ring opening/closing reactions of the RSA unit induced by a photochromic pK(a) change along with the photoisomerization of the AZO unit.

in 0.1 M ionic strength aqueous solution at 120 for the following: 2,4-dihydroxy4'-nitroazobenzene (I), 2,4-dihydroxy-4'-sulfonateazobenzene (II), and p-(2hydroxy-l-naphthylazo) benzenesulfonic acid (III). The reported values of k231 were 4O X 105, 3.6 X 105, and 3.6 X 106 M-1 sec-1. They attributed the much lower values of k23, for these acids than the value3 k23, 2 X 109 M-1 sec-1 kn,' for th...

This communication reports a new approach to synthesize amphiphilic block copolymers. The copolymers with well-defined structures were synthesized by macromolecular azo-coupling reaction between the diazonium salt of aniline-functionalized PEG and the polymeric blocks with a terminal suitable for the azo-coupling reaction.

We report the observation of simultaneous two and three photon resonances, enhancing the third-order NLO susceptibility in a thin film of an azo-dye polymer. The possibility of 2-3 orders of magnitude increase in χ((3)) susceptibility is sustained by quantum mechanical calculations. This improves the applications of azo-polymers in all optical signal processing as well as in nonlinear optical i...