Synthesis of 1-Vinylidene-naphthofurans: A Thermally Reversible Photochromic System That Colors Only When Adsorbed on Silica Gel
作者:Céu M. Sousa、Jerome Berthet、Stephanie Delbaere、Paulo J. Coelho
DOI:10.1021/jo400710r
日期:2013.7.19
A set of new 1-vinylidene-1,2-dihydro-naphtho[2,1-b]furans were unexpectedly obtained in the reaction of 2-naphthol with readily available 1,1,4,4-tetraarylbut-2-yne-1,4-diols. Surprisingly, when adsorbed in silica gel, these compounds exhibit photochromism at room temperature, whereas not in solution and in the solid state. UV or sunlight irradiation leads, in a few seconds, to the formation of intense pink/violet to green colors that bleach completely in a few minutes in the dark. These new compounds also exhibit reversible acidochromic properties in solution: addition of TFA leads to the opening of the furan ring and addition of a proton to the allene function, leading to a conjugated and violet tertiary carbocation that returned immediately to the uncolored allenic structure upon addition of a weak base.