Syntheses, photochromism and polarization optical recording of a novel diarylethene having a thiazole unit

A new photochromic diarylethene compound 1-(2, 4-dimethyl-thiazole-5-yl)-2-[2-methyl-5-(2-trifluorophenyl)-3-thien yl]perfluorocyclopentene (1a) was synthesized and its photochromic properties, fluorescence switch and polarization optical recording were investigated in detail. The diarylethene 1a showed excellent photochromic properties upon UV or visible light irradiation, which changed the color from colorless to orange when irradiation 313 nm UV light, and the maximum absorption was observed at 464 nm and 477 nm in hexane solution and in PMMA film, respectively. The new diarylethene also exhibited relatively strong fluorescence by photoirradiation in PMMA film and the fluorescence intensity decreased along with the photochromism upon irradiation 313 nm light and its closed-ring isomer showed almost no fluorescence. In addition, Using diarylethene 1b as recording medium, polarization optical recording was carried out successfully.