Synthesis and Properties of a Photochromic Diarylethene with a Benzofuran Ring

A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene 1-(2-methylbenzofuran-3-yl)-2-(2-nbutyl-5-formylthiophene-3-yl) perfluoroncyclopentene(1a), was synthesized and its optoelectronic properties, such as photochromism in solution as well as in poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) amorphous films, and the fluorescence spectra of diarylethene 1a was investigated. The photochromic reaction kinetics indicated that the cyclization process of 1a belongs to the zeroth order reaction and the cycloreversion process belongs to the first order reaction. Using diarylethene 1/PMMA film as recording medium and a linearly polarized 633 nm laser diode for recording and readout, polarization multiplexed image recording can be carried out in this film, which illustrated that the diarylethene can be potentially used as holographic optical recording medium.