Synthesis, Photochromism and Optical Storage of a Novel Diarylethene Compound

A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene compound, 1-(2-methyl-5-(3-thienyl)-3-thienyl)-2-(2-methyl-5-(4- cyanophenyl)-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclope- ntene (1a), was synthesized and its photochemical properties, such as photochromism and kinetics in solution as well as in PMMA amorphous film, fluorescecne and optical strorage properties were investigated in detail. The results showed that the cyclization/cycloreversion process of the compound was determined to be the zeroth/first order reaction, fluorescent properties can be useful in molecular scale optoelectronics and the optical propertis can be potential use for data storage.