Thermally Irreversible Photochromic Systems. Reversible Photocyclization of 2-(1-Benzothiophen-3-yl)-3-(2 or 3-thienyl)maleimide Derivatives

Non-symmetric diarylethenes that have a 1-benzothiophene ring on one end and a 2-thienyl or 3-thienyl group on the other end of the double bond of maleimide were synthesized in order to study the effects of the substitution position of the thiophene ring on the absorption bands and the reactivities. The open-and closed-ring forms of N-cyanomethyl-2-(2,4-dimethyl-5-phenyl-3-thienyl)-3-(2-methoxy-1-benzothiophen-3-yl)maleimide showed absorption bands at 420 and 563 nm in hexane, respectively. When 3-thienyl was changed to 2-thienyl, the absorption bands of N-cyanomethyl-2-(3,4-dimethyl-5-phenyl-2-thienyl)-3-(2-methoxy-1-benzothiophen-3-yl)maleimide shifted to 448 nm (the open-ring form) and 487 nm (the closed-ring form), respectively. The cyclization and ring-opening quantum yields were also dependent on the substitution position. The cyclization yield decreased from 0.30 to 0.03 by changing the position from 3- to 2-thienyl, while the ring-opening yield increased from 0.03 to 0.13. No absorption spectral change by photoirradiation was observed for N-cyanomethyl-2,3-bis(3,4-dimethyl-5-phenyl-2-thienyl)maleimide, which has two 2-thienyl groups.