Photochemical properties of side-chain coumarin polymers

Photosensitive materials attract many attention due to their potential application in optical devices such as optical data storage, optical communication, ...[1]. Coumarines and their analogues are well-known for their reversible photoinduced cyclodimerisation properties, leading to cyclobutane-based dimers (scheme) [2]. This equilibrium can be tuned according to the wavelength which is applied, and the resulting systems are of course dramatically structurally and electronically different. Therefore, the coumarine system offers a unique opportunity for applications in various fields involving conjugated molecular frameworks. In the area of photonics and nonlinear optics one of the great advantages of functionalized materials lies on the photochemical properties of the polymer. In the present work, homo- and copolymers built from the free radical polymerization of methacrylic monomers incorporating a coumarin side-group have been synthesized and structurally characterized. Results of photochemical and optical activities of the corresponding polymers will be presented.