The purified aminoanthraquinone disperse dyes, such as 1-amino-, 2-amino-, 1, 4-diamino-, 1, 5-diamino-, 1, 4-bismethylamino- and 1, 4-bisbutylaminoanthraquinone, were exposed to the irradiation of xenon arc lamp in various organic solvents, and the changes of their spectra were measured.
The rate of fading reaction was accerelated markedly by the substitution of hydrogen atom of amino group by methyl or n-butyl group. By exposing of the dyes to the light a new absorption band in visible region was not developed in benzene, acetone and t-butylalcohol, but remarkably developed in ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol and n-propyl alcohol at the blue side (λmax; 500 and 460mμ). The same band was observed by the reduction of the dyes with sodium hydrosulfite. Both the photochemical product and the chemical reduction product from aminoanthraquinones had the same Rf value (0.48).
These facts show that the fading reactions of the dyes in alcohol having α-hydrogen atom are photoreductive, and the intermediates can be assigned to the corresponding anthrahydroquinones.