Effect of complexation on spectral and kinetic properties of crown-substituted photochromic spironaphthoxazines

The insertion of benzo-15-crown-5 or benzo-18-crown-6 as a substituent at the 9'-position of a spironaphthoxazine molecule increases the lifetime of the open form of spironaphthoxazine by a factor ofca. 2. The complex formation between the crown groups and Mg²⁺ or Ba²⁺ ions changes the lifetime slightly. The addition of benzo-18-crown-6 at the 5'-position leads to an increase in the lifetime of the open form by an order of magnitude and the appearance of absorption with a maximum at 16420 cm^–1 under dark conditions, which testifies to the stabilization of the open form. The addition of Ba²⁺ ions to this compound results in a further increase in the lifetime byca. 35% due to complex formation. The luminescence of the benzo-15-crown-5-substituted compound is probably caused by both the complexation with Mg²⁺ and the photochemical reaction induced by photoactive light and is accompanied by the irreversible loss of photochromism.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 2220–2224, September. 1996.