1.1- Diarylethenes

The reversible electrocyclic interconversion between the colourless ring-open state and the coloured ring closed state on irradiation with light occurs at well-separated wavelengths. The thermal conversion is not favoured and the compounds show very high fatigue resistance.  

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Although catalytic hydrogenation is the method most often used, double bonds can be reduced by other reagents, as well. Among these are sodium in ethanol, sodium and rerr-butyl alcohol in HMPA, lithium and aliphatic amines (see also 15-14), " zinc and acids, sodium hypophosphate and Pd-C, (EtO)3SiH—Pd(OAc)2, trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane (EtsSiH), and hydroxylamine and ethyl acetate.However, metallic hydrides, such as lithium aluminum hydride and sodium borohydride, do not in general reduce carbon-carbon double bonds, although this can be done in special cases where the double bond is polar, as in 1,1-diarylethenes and in enamines. " °... 

Masahiro Irie received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Kyoto University and his Ph.D. in radiation chemistry from Osaka University. He joined Hokkaido University as a research associate in 1968 and started his research on photochemistry. In 1973 he moved to Osaka University and developed various types of photoresponsive polymers. In 1988 he was appointed Professor at Kyushu University. In the middle of the 1980 s he invented a new class of photochromic molecules - diaryl-ethenes - which undergo thermally irreversible and fatigue resistant photochromic reactions. He is currently interested in developing singlecrystalline photochromism of the diarylethene derivatives. 

As would be expected for a highly electrophilic species, rhodium-catalyzed carbenoid additions are accelerated by aryl substituents, as well as by other cation-stabilizing groups on the alkene reactant.205 When applied to 1,1-diarylethenes, ERG substituents favor the position trans to the ester group.206 This can be understood in terms of maximizing the interaction between this ring and the reacting double bond. 

Corredor CC, Huang Z, Belfield KD (2006) Two-photon 3D optical data storage via fluorescence modulation of an efficient fluorene dye by a photochromic diarylethene. Adv Mater 18 2910-2914... 

Katsonis N, Kudemac T, Walko M, van der Molen SJ, van Wees BJ, Feringa BL (2006) Reversible conductance switching of single diarylethenes on a gold surface. Adv Mater 18(11) 1397-1400... 

Matsuda K, Yamaguchi H, Sakano T, Ikeda M, Tanifuji N, Irie M (2008) Conductance photoswitching of diarylethene gold nanoparticle network induced by photochromic reaction. J Phys Chem C 112(43) 17005-17010... 

To date, two types of chromophores have been successfully incorporated in molecular junctions diarylethenes (DAE) [100] and azobenzene (AZO) derivatives [101]. 

Diarylethenes, 1,1-diarylallylalcohols and aryl vinyl ethers were succesfully hydroformylated in water/toluene or water/cyclohexane biphasic mixtures with a catalyst prepared in situ from[ RhCl(COD) 2] and TPPTS (Scheme 4.15). Yields of the desired linear aldehyde product were around 80%. This method was applied for the synthesis of the neuroleptics Fluspirilen and Penfluridol (Scheme 4.16) and for other pharmaceutically active compounds containing the 4,4-bis(p-fluorophenyl)butyl group [153]. 

The photoinduced reaction of chloranil with various 1,1-diarylethenes is another example of an intramoleclar [2 -I- 2] cycloaddition as reported by Xu and co-workers [86]. Although not interesting from the preparative point of view, the diverse reaction outcomes caused by parallel reaction pathways with and without single-electron transfer and various secondary reactions of the primary products show that the photochemistry involving haloquinones is far from being explored. Another interesting example in this context is the reaction of dichlorobenzoqui-none with various diarylacetylenes in the solid phase via photoinduced electron transfer as reported by Kochi and co-workers [87]. Here, time-resolved spectroscopy revealed the radical ion pair of the two reactants to be the first reactive intermediate that then underwent coupling. 

Following similar trials with the formation of diarylbenzenes [63-65], the same research group has reported a multistep synthesis of photochromic diarylethenes using a microflow system that contained two linked micromixers and microreactors (MRi 2) [66]. Similarly to the previously reported linked microreactors, the reactors used in this setup were made of stainless steel tubes and T-shaped micromixers. Initial experiments were conducted in two steps in a continuous sequence to afford symmetrical octasubstitued diaryUiexafluoro cyclopentene (Scheme 29). 

Scheme 29 Initial trials affording symmetrical diarylethenes [66]...

The reaction scope is further enlarged to unsymmetrically disubstituted derivatives. Using one mole equivalent of two different aryllithium precursors at a time in a sequence of four micromixers and microtube reactors (MRi ), it was possible to obtain an unsymmetrically disubstituted final diarylethene. The yield was determined after solvent evaporation and sample purification on the column. 

Ushiogi Y, Hase T, linuma Y et al (2007) Synthesis of photochromic diarylethenes using a microflow system. Chem Commun 28 2947-2949... 

The terms diarylethenes, dithienylethenes, and dihetarylethenes, as applied to the structures of photochromic products II, of course, do not strictly meet the nomenclature requirements. However, these terms have gained wide acceptance in the special literature. The classification of compounds containing heterocycles as bridges is also rather arbitrary. 

The synthesis of diarylethenes from hetaryl bromides and octafluoro-cyclopentene using a microflow system allows the preparation of various symmetrical and unsymmetrical diarylperfluorocyclopentenes in 47-87% yields at 0°C (07CC2947). 

Recently, the synthesis of photochromic compounds containing two or more diarylethene fragments bound either directly or through linkers has been performed. Scheme 32 illustrates one approach to 96 containing two hexafluorocyclopentene-bridged dihetarylethene fragments (05JACS8922). 

A new class of photochromic diarylethenes containing thieno[3,2-b] thiophenes, dithieno[3,2-b 2, 3 -d]thiophene (08CC5203), and dithieno [3,2-fc 2, 3 -d]pyrroles (09CEJ10005) with photoswitchable luminescence properties were synthesized by Suzuki cross-coupling reactions (Scheme 48). 

In some cases, the formation of photochromic maleimides requires drastic conditions. Thus, hybrid meta and ipara derivatives 194 containing both fulgimide and diarylethene photochromic fragments were prepared in 61 and 75%, respectively, by refluxing amines 193 with anhydride 165 in ethanol under argon for 70 h in the presence of molecular sieves (06MI1, llEJO) (Scheme 57). 

Usually the change in colour in the forward direction is to longer wavelength, i.e. bathochromic, and reversibility of this change is key to the many uses of photo-chromism. In many systems, e.g. spiropyrans, spirooxazines and chromenes, the back reaction is predominantly thermally driven but in others the photochemically induced state is thermally stable and the back reaction must be driven photochemically e.g. fulgides and diarylethenes). The assistance of heat in the reversion of colour can be regarded as an example of thermochromism, but in this text the term is reserved for those systems where heat is the main cause of the colour change (see section 1.3). 

There are five main classes of compounds which can approach these ideal requirements spiropyrans, specifically spiroindolinobenzopyrans, spironaphthoxazines, naphthopyrans, fulgides and diarylethenes. 

Photochromic systems that have been examined in both of these approaches include spiropyrans, spirooxazines, diarylethenes, dihydroindolizines and azoben-zenes. A schematic of a disk structure is shown in Figure 1.14. To produce the... 

Cycloadditions have been carried out to 37/-indoles (222, 223) (125,126), N-arylmaleimides (224) (127,128), l,2), -azaphospholes (225) (129), 5(47/)-oxazo-lones (226) (130), and 4,5-dihydrooxazoles (230) (131). The primary cycloadducts from the reaction of oxazolones (e.g., 226 with diaryl nitrile imines), derived from tetrazoles in refluxing anisole, do not survive. They appear to lose carbon dioxide and undergo a dimerization-fragmentation sequence to give the triazole 228 and the diarylethene 229 as the isolated products (130). In cases where the two aryl substituents on the oxazole are not the same, then, due to tautomerism, isomeric mixtures of products are obtained. 

Kodani T, Matsuda K, Yamada T, Kobatake S, Irie M (2000) Reversible diastereoselective photocyclization of a diarylethene in a single-crystalline phase. J Am Chem Soc 122 ... 

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