Synthesize, Photochromic and Application for Optical Recording of Diarylthene Bearing Naphthyl Unit

A new photochromic diarylethene bearing thiophene and naphtyl unit 1-(2-methyl-1-naphthyl)-2-[2-methyl-5-(2-cyanophenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene (1o), was synthesized and its phtochromic, fluorescence, kinetics and optical recording properties were investigated in detail. This compound exhibited remarkable photochromism, changing from colorless to red after irradiation with 297 nm UV light both in solution and in PMMA film. Finally, using diarylethene 1c as recording medium, polarization optical recording was carried out successfully.