The evolution of a primary excited electronic state of 2-hydroxy-1-(N-morpholinomethyl)naphthalene (HMMN) and 7-hydroxy-8-(N-morpholinomethyl)quinoline (HMMQ) in liquid solutions has been followed with a time resolution of 200 fs by detecting the emerging transient UV-visible absorptions and stimulated emissions The primary state lies about 7000 cm(-1) above the state S-1. The spectral changes in the case of HMMN in n-hexane are attributed to vibrational relaxation, because intramolecular proton transfer (i.e., formation of the excited zwitterionic form Z*) does not take place and effects due to dielectric polarization of the solvent could be ruled out. A similar vibrational relaxation has been observed in the case of HMMN in tetrahydrofurane. The Z* state of HMMN emerges in tetrahydrofurane, but only from a complex {E*,S} of the excited enol form (E*) and a solvent molecule (S) and certainly not from the vibrationless S-1 state of E*. The transferable proton in {E*,S} is simultaneously involved in an intramolecular and an intermolecular H-bond. HMMN behaves in a similar fashion as in tetrahydrofurane, when the former is dissolved in 1,4-dioxane. In the case of HMMN in acetonitrile, the evolution of tripler states (3){Z*,S} can be seen in addition to a quasistationary singlet state (1){Z*,S}(1). The intersystem crossing from the singlet into the triplet manifold of states proceeds from (1){Z*,S} states above the vibrationless state (1){Z*,S}(1) The triplet state formation is attributed to the weaker intermolecular H-bond involved in the complex (Z*,S) when S = CH3CN. Dielectric polarization of the solvent is of no significance in promoting the intramolecular proton transfer compared to the specific solute-solvent interaction in the complex {E*,S}. The protonated morpholino group in the Z-* form of HMMN is kept fixed by an intramolecular H-bond in all the cases. In the case of HMMQ, only its solution in tetrahydrofurane has been studied. The rate constant for the conversion of the Z* form of HMMQ into the excited keto (K*) form has been determined, as well as the rate constant for the relaxation of the latter into the ground-state keto form (K). The rate constant for the conversion of the form K of HMMQ into the groundstate enol form (through rotational Brownian motion of the protonated morpholino group) has also been determined. Spectral broadening arising from the motion of the protonated morpholino group in the Z* form of HMMQ has been observed in accordance with previous simulations.