Photoinduced Anisotropy in a New Diarylethene Bearing Five and Six-membered Aryl

A new symmetrical photochromic diarylethene, 1-(2-methyl-5-formyl)-2-(2-cyanophenyl) perfluorocyclopentene(1a), was synthesized, and its photochromic properties were investigated in detail. The compound exhibited good photochromism both in solution and in PMMA film with alternating irradiation by UV/VIS light, and the maxima absorption of its closed-ring isomer 1b are 544 and 549 nm, respectively. The photochromism properties of la diarylethene show good photochromism in hexane and in PMMA amorphous film. Steady state fluorescence studies indicated that la diarylethene is higher fluorescent in the open-ring isomer, but there almost no fluorescence in the closed-ring isomer in PMMA amorphous film. The diarylethene la has promising application for photo-switching, fluorescence-switching which can use for data storage.