New photochromic diarylethenes with a six-membered aryl unit

A new class of photochromic diarylethenes bearing a six-membered aryl unit has been developed. They underwent reversible cyclization and cycloreversion reactions upon alternating irradiation with UV and visible light both in solution and in PMMA film. However, diarylethenes 1, 2, and 4 showed no photochromism in the crystalline phase although they packed with an anti-parallel conformation and the distances between the two reactive carbon atoms were both less than 4.2 Å.     

New photochromic diarylethenes bearing a pyridine moiety

A new class of diarylethenes bearing a pyridine unit has been firstly developed and their properties such as photochromism, fatigue resistance, and fluorescence have been discussed. The pyridine unit was connected directly to the central cyclopentene ring as one aryl moiety and availably participated in the photoinduced cyclization reaction even in the crystalline phase. All of these diarylethenes exhibited excellent photochromism, remarkable fatigue resistance, and notable fluorescence photoswitches both in solution and in poly(methylmethacrylate) films. Moreover, the different substituents had a significant effect on their properties. The results indicated that the electron-donating substituent could significantly enhance the cyclization quantum yield and depress the cycloreversion quantum yield while the electron-withdrawing group had a notable contribution to the cycloreversion quantum yield and fluorescence quantum yield for these diarylethenes.     

New photochromic diarylethenes bearing a condensed aromatics moiety

A new class of diarylethenes based on a hybrid structure of naphthalene and thiophene have been developed and their properties including photochromism, fatigue resistance, and fluorescence have been investigated. The condensed aromatic naphthalene was connected directly to the central cyclopentene ring as an aryl moiety and available to participate in the photoinduced cyclization reaction. All of these compounds have exhibited good photochromism, notable fatigue resistance, and obvious fluorescence photo-switches in both solution and polymer matrix. Nevertheless, significantly different properties have been observed among these diarylethenes, which may be attributed to the effect of different substituent groups. Compared with the analogs bearing other six-membered aryl unit, the naphthalene moiety is more conducive, which leads to higher molar absorption coefficient and blue shift of the absorption maximum.     

BINOL-derived diphosphoramidites bearing unsymmetrical 1,2-diamine link and their application in asymmetric catalysis

New P,P-bidentate diastereomeric diphosphoramidite chiral ligands with mixed stereogenic elements and a C₁ backbone symmetry have been prepared from (S_a)- and (R_a)-1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diol (BINOL) and (S)-N-benzyl-1-(pyrrolidin-2-yl)methanamine and are fully characterized. The use of these ligands provides up to 84% ee in the Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution of (E)-1,3-diphenylallyl acetate and up to 95% ee in the Rh-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of α-dehydrocarboxylic acid esters. The results indicate that the catalytic performance is highly affected by the axial chirality of the binaphthyl moieties of the ligand and the nature of the solvent.     

New conjugated poly(aryleneethynylenes) with main-chain photochromic units

New photochromic poly(aryleneethynylenes) have been synthesized on the basis of dibromodithienylmaleimide and bisacetylenes under the conditions of the Sonogashira reaction. Molecular masses and polydispersities of the poly(arylene ethynylenes) vary over the following ranges: M _w = 19 150–32 650, M _n = 12 000–19 200, and M _w/M _n = 1.47–1.70; the glass-transition temperatures are in the range 208–230°C; and the 10% weight-loss temperatures in air and argon are in the ranges 330–370 and 550–660°C, respectively. All poly(aryleneethynylenes) exhibit photochromic properties in both solutions and films. It has been shown that, when photochromes are incorporated into a polymer matrix, the efficiency of their photoinduced coloration diminishes, irrespective of whether they are fragments of macromolecular chains or components of polymer solutions.     

New photochromic symmetrical and unsymmetrical bis(heteroaryl)maleimides: A spectrokinetic study

The photochromic behavior of two newly synthesized diarylethenes is here presented. The compounds studied are the symmetrical (1-benzyl-3,4-bis(2-methylbenzo[b]thiophen-3-yl)-[1H]-2,5-dihydropyrrol-2,5-dione) and the unsymmetrical (1-benzyl-3-(2-methylbenzo[b]thiophen-3-yl)-4-(2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl)-[1H]-2,5-dihydropyrrol-2,5-dione). Upon stimulation with UV or violet light, these compounds become red-colored due to photocyclization and cyclorevert to the light yellow open form upon irradiation with visible light. In this work, absorption and fluorescence spectra, molar absorption coefficients of the ethenic and cyclized forms, fluorescence quantum yields and photochemical quantum yields of both the forward and back photoreactions were determined. Temperature, excitation wavelength and solvent effects were explored. The symmetrical compound was found to be a bistable photochrome. In contrast, the unsymmetrical molecule resulted unsuitable as photochrome because of side degradation processes occurring in competition with cyclization.     

Palladium-catalysed symmetrical and unsymmetrical coupling of aryl halides

Pd(OAc)₂ is a convenient catalyst under basic conditions for the synthesis of symmetrical biaryl moieties from aryl halides. This homocoupling of aryl halides is a good catalytic alternative to classical biaryl formations involving stoichiometric amounts of metal. This method is compatible with sensitive functional groups. We also studied the extension of this reaction to unsymmetrical aryl coupling.     

Electrochemically induced ring-closing of photochromic 1,2-dithienylcyclopentenes

An unprecedented combination of photochromism and electrochromism is observed for two 1,2-bis(dithienyl)cyclopentene derivatives; the ring-opening reactions are photochemically driven while the ring-closing reactions can be triggered by electrochemical oxidation.     

New photochromic polymers

New photochromic polymers were synthesized by quaternization of amino groups of N-methyldiethanolamine polyterephthalate with a mixture of bis(2,5-dimethyl-4-chloromethyl-3-thienyl)-1,3-dioxol-2-one and p-or m-xylylene dichloride. The spectral-kinetic studies of coatings based on the obtained polymers showed that these coatings have photochromic properties, the efficiency of which decreases with an increase in the sample thickness.     

A new reaction sequence involving palladium-catalyzed unsymmetrical aryl coupling

Biphenylylalkenes containing an ortho substituent in one ring and a different ortho-, meta-, or para-substituent in the other are prepared in satisfactory yield from an ortho-substituted aryl iodide, an ortho-, meta-, or para-substituted aryl bromide, a terminal olefin, and a base in DMF under the joint catalytic action of palladium(0) and norbornene.     

Measurement of quadratic hyperpolarizabilities of unsymmetrical donor-acceptor bi- and polyaryls: effect of size and torsion angle of aryl units

The linear and quadratic nonlinear optical properties of donor-acceptor polyphenyls and naphthyl derivatives are in investigated. The behaviour of the static first-order hyperpolarizability β(O) as a function of the number n of phenyl units separating an acceptor group (cyano) and a donor group (methylthio) is studied for n=1, 2, 3, and compared to that of similar polyphenyls bearing other donor substitutents (N,N-dimethylamino, methoxy). β(O) is also measured for unsymmetrical donor-acceptor biaryls containing at least one napthyl unit. A clear influence of the twist angle between the two units on the quadratic nonlinear response of the molecule is evidenced, allowing for fine control of the transparency/nonlinear efficiency trade-off.     

Regulating pi-conjugated pathways using a photochromic 1,2-dithienylcyclopentene

Linear pi-conjugation is reversibly re-routed by irradiation of a photochromic bis(terthiophene).     

Macrocycles with 1,2-dicyano-1,2-dithioethene units

Abstract

The new unsaturated macrocyclic tetrathioethers (Z,Z)-4 (n = 0), (Z,Z)-5 (n = 1), (Z,Z)-6 (n = 2) and (Z,Z)-7 (n = 3) were synthesized by the cyclization of (Z)-disodium-1,2-dicyanoethene-1,2-dithiolate (Z)-3 with ω,ω'-dibromoalkanes BrCH₂CH₂(CH₂)nCH₂Br (n = 0;1;2;3) on refluxing in dioxane in yields up to 15%. By reaction of the dithiolate (Z)-3 with 1,3-dibromopropane the unsaturated hexathioether (Z,Z,Z)-6 was also obtained. By the cyclization of dithiolate (Z)-3 with 1,5-dibromopentane and 1,6-dibromohexane the (Z,E)- and (E,E)-isomers, respectively, were formed in addition to the (Z,Z)-isomers. The (E,E)- and (Z,E)-isomers are photochemically convertable to the corresponding themodynamically more stable (Z,Z)-isomers by irradiation with UV-light. The (E,E)-isomers can be synthesized in a straightforward manner using the (E)-disodium-1,2-dicyanoethene-1,2-dithiolate (E)-3. Crystal structures of (Z,Z)-5, (Z,Z)-6, (E,E)-6, (Z,E)-7 and (E,E)-7 are reported.     

Preparation and properties of novel soluble poly(aryl ether)s bearing covalently bound tetrapyrazinoporphyrazine units

Thermooxidatively stable amorphous poly(dicyanopyrazine ether)s with high glass transition temperatures are synthesized and converted into poly(aryl ether)s bearing covalently bound zinc(II) 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octaphenyltetrapyrazinoporphyrazine units. They are soluble in common organic solvents and can be cast into strong and flexible films. The maximum absorption wavelength of the poly(aryl ether)s bearing zinc (II) 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octaphenyltetrapyrazinoporphyrazine units in chloroform is 654 nm. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Synthesis, crystal structure and optoelectronic properties of a new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene

A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene, 1-(2-methyl-5-phenyl-3-thienyl)-2-[2-methyl-5-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene (1a), was synthesized and its structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Its optical and electrochemical properties, including photochromic reactivity both in solution and in the solid state (PMMA film and the single-crystalline phase), fluorescence and electrochemical properties were investigated in detail. The compound showed excellent photochromism even in the single-crystalline phase by photo-irradiation. In acetonitrile, the open-ring isomer of diarylethene 1 exhibited relatively strong fluorescence at 470nm when excited at 300nm, and its emission intensity decreased along with the photochromism upon irradiation with 313nm light. Its closed-ring isomer showed almost no fluorescence. The electrochemical properties of diarylethene were investigated by performing cyclic voltammetry experiment and its HOMO and LUMO energy level were calculated.     

Recent progress of luminescent metal complexes with photochromic units

Photo-responsive molecules have been studied extensively because of their light irradiation abilities that enable modulation of certain physical and chemical properties in emerging molecular electronic and photonic devices. For advanced photonic applications, photochromic metal complexes that have photochromic units as the photo-responsive ligand are highly desirable, as they allow improvement of the photochromic properties and their photo-switching functionality. This article focuses on recent progress in luminescent metal complexes with photochromic units. Luminescence-switching properties of photochromic metal complexes depend on characteristic electronic transitions. The electronic transitions of photochromic metal complexes can be divided into three categories: (1) π–π* transition of the ligand, (2) metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT) in transition-metal complex, and (3) f–f transition in lanthanide complex. Luminescence modulation using various metal complexes with photochromic units has been studied extensively in recent years, and various applications for future molecular switching devices are expected in the field of advanced photonics. Based on the literature and our studies on luminescent metal complexes with photochromic units, we report on the recent progress of luminescent metal complexes with photochromic units.     

One-pot synthesis of symmetrical and unsymmetrical aryl sulfides by Pd-catalyzed couplings of aryl halides and thioacetates

Aryl sulfides were obtained from the coupling reaction of S-aryl (or S-alkyl) thioacetates and aryl bromides in the presence of palladium catalyst. This reaction method enables the one-pot synthesis of symmetrical and unsymmetrical diaryl sulfides by employing potassium thioacetate with aryl iodides and aryl bromides.