Synthesis, Photochromism and Optical Storage of a Novel Unsymmetrical Diarylethene Compound
A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene 1-[2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl]-2-[3,5-difluorophenyl]perfluoroyclopentene (1a) was synthesized, its photochromic, fluorescent and optical strorage properties were examined, the result indicated that the diarylethene 1a changed the color from colorless to purple upon irradiation with 313 nm UV light, in which absorption maxima were observed at 542nm and 556nm in hexane and PMMA film, respectively. This new photochromic system exhibited remarkable fluorescence intensity and clear fluorescent switches by photoirradiation in PMMA film. The results showed that the cyclization/cycloreversion process of the compound was determined to be the zeroth/first order reaction. This new photochromic system also exhibited remarkable optical storage character.