and hydrolysis furnished 5 in good overall yield. Substituents R1 and R2 in the OPE portion were either electron-withdrawing or electron-donating, and their influence on the photostability and photoswitching characteristics of 7a–e was studied. All resulting molecules show reversible photochromism between the colorless off and the deeply colored on states when irradiated with light of 313 and 576 nm