Spectral and luminescent properties of hydroxyazomethines of indoline spiropyrans

Spectral and luminescent properties of novel bifunctional compounds 1–3 based on indole spiropyrans and hydroxyazomethines have been studied in comparison with the properties of the model compounds 5’-substituted spiropyrans and azomethines in organic solvents and PMMA films at 293 and 77 K. Luminescence of compounds 1–3 is due to the presence of the azomethine fragment conjugated with the indoline ring of the spiropyran moiety and determining the long-wavelength absorption band of 1–3. Depending on the solvent, temperature, and the substituent, various combinations of the structures of the chromophore fragments are observed in 1–3: the imine or amine form of the azomethine fragment and the spirocyclic or merocyanine form of the spiropyran fragment.