Photoinduced Fluorescence Switching of a New Diarylethene and its Application in Optical Recording Storage

A novel unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene 1-(2-methyl-3-benzothienyl)-2-{2-n-butyl-5-[2-(1,3-dioxolane)]-3-thienyl}perfluorocyclopentene(1O) was synthesized, and its photochromic, fluorescent and optical strorage properties were investigated. The compounds 1O exhibited remarkable photochromism both in solution and in PMMA film, and the results showed that the cyclization/cycloreversion process of the compound was determined to be the zeroth/first order reaction. In addition, this new photochromic system also exhibited remarkable optical storage character.