Procedures were developed for the synthesis of substituted bis(2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl)ethenes containing the imidazol-2-one, 1,3-dioxol-2-one, or 1,3-oxazol-2-one fragments as ethene bridges. These compounds were demonstrated to exhibit the photochromic properties. The cyclic forms of some imidazolone and oxazolone photochromes possess high thermal stability. The structure of photochromic 4,5-bis(4-acetyl-2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl)-3-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1,3-oxazol-2-one was established by X-ray diffraction analysis. The molecule adopts an anti-parallel conformation similar to that of perfluorocyclopentene-bridged dithienylethenes.
Procedures were developed for the synthesis of substituted bis(2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl)ethenes containing the imidazol-2-one, 1,3-dioxol-2-one, or 1,3-oxazol-2-one fragments as ethene bridges. These compounds were demonstrated to exhibit the photochromic properties. The cyclic forms of some imidazolone and oxazolone photochromes possess high thermal stability. The structure of photochromic 4,5-bis(4-acetyl-2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl)-3-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1,3-oxazol-2-one was established by X-ray diffraction analysis. The molecule adopts an anti-parallel conformation similar to that of perfluorocyclopentene-bridged dithienylethenes.
This work is devoted to the determination of ring-closure and ring-opening quantum yield values of 18 thermally irreversible photochromic diarylethene derivatives. Three classes have been systematically investigated. They have been obtained (i) by changing the bridging ring that stabilizes the central ethenic double bond in the cis configuration from perhydrocyclopentene, oxazolone and lactones, and (ii) by varying the lateral aryl moieties from thiophene, benzothiophene and thiazoles. Numerical modeling of UV/visible absorption vs time kinetic curves recorded under continuous monochromatic irradiation in combination with chemical actinometry was employed to determine the photo-cyclisation and cycloreversion quantum yields together with the molar absorption coefficient of the closed form. Structure-properties diagrams obtained by plotting lambda(A) vs lambda(B), epsilon(A) VS epsilon(B) and phi(AB) VS phi(BA) Visualize all the structural effects helping the evaluation of these compounds as possible photoswitches or high-density optical recording materials. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.