Langmuir–Blodgett films of pyridinium-dicyanomethanide dyes mixtures with photobleachable absorption bands

We report on Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films characterization of 4-[5-dicyanomethanido)thien-2-y1]-N-(n-hexadecyl)pyridinium (C₁₆H₃₃-PDCNT), and 1-(N-(n-hexadecy]-4-pyridinio)-2-[5-(dicyanomethanido)thien-2-yl]ethene (C₁₆H₃₃-PDCNTE); LB films of the pure compounds and of the mixtures of the two compounds were prepared at 291 K: UV-vis investigation revealed the presence of photobleachable absorption bands, the ones at about 530 nm and 640 nm were due to charge transfer transitions of the monomer of C16H33-PDCNT and C₁₆H₃₃-PDCNTE, respectively; the sharp, photobleachable ones shifted to shorter wavelengths were due to H-aggregates of the two compounds. By changing the molar ratios of the two compounds in the mixtures and in other cases by annealing the LB films, the absorption maxima of the sharp, photobleachable bands due to H-aggregates could be tuned in the range 415–467 nm. These LB films are thus very promising in view of optical data storage applications.