Structural relaxation accompanied by photo-induced chromatic phase transition of polydiacetylenes with butylene-N-difluorophenyl carbamate side chains

We have studied the phase transition of poly-5,7-dodecadiyne-1,12-diol bis[2,4-difluorophenyl carbamate] (PDA-2,4-DFPC) and poly-5,7-dodecadiyne-1,12-diol bis[3,4-difluorophenyl carbamate] (PDA-3,4-DFPC) by visible reflection spectroscopy and mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy. Both PDA-2,4-DFPC and PDA-3,4-DFPC show the reflection spectra characterized by a sharp peak at around 1.9 eV at room temperature. While PDA-3,4-DFPC shows thermochromic phase transition to the phase showing the reflection spectrum with a peak around 2.2 eV above 120 °C, PDA-2,4-DFPC shows no abrupt change of the reflection spectrum. However, PDA-2,4-DFPC shows drastic change of the reflection spectrum under 532-nm CW-laser excitation. Based on these results, we can draw the following two conclusions. First, the phase transition behavior of PDA can be controlled by modifying the side-chain structure. Second, we demonstrate that thermally inaccessible phase of PDA is induced by the photo-excitation. By measuring mid-infrared absorption of PDAs, we elucidated that conformational change of side chains is accompanied with the phase transition. Based on the results, we discussed the role of the side chain in the phase transition.