Spiropyran colorability

Another halogenated photolysis (30), using carbon tetrabromide to produce hydrogen bromide and subsequent reaction with spiropyran (5), produces a highly colored spiropyrilium bromide salt. 

The photochromism of the spiropyran depends on the structure of heterocyclic parts, the medium such as solvent or plastic films, temperature, and light energy. Though the actual mechanisms may be more complex, a simple photochromic behavior in the spiropyrans is illustrated in Scheme 1. Initially, a spiropyran is excited by photoirradiation, and then a cisoid isomer arises after dissociation of the C—O bond. Finally, the cisoid form changes to the thermodynamically stable transoid form. The equilibrium between the cisoid and transoid forms largely depends on the substituent groups. The reversal of the colored form to the colorless spiropyran occurs by thermal or photochemical energy. More detailed mechanisms will be described in Section 1.2.1.6. 

Instead of metal chelation, an intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the oxygen atom of phenolate and a hydrogen atom of a carboxylic acid in the 8-position leads to stabilization of the colored form, such as compound 12.20,21 This spiropyran exhibits reversed photochromism, which means that thermally stable species change from the spiro form to the colored form, and thus the colorless form produced by photoirradiation soon converts to thermally stable colored form. 

Mechanism of Coloration of Spiropyran Generated by Photophysical Process... 

The photocoloring reaction for spiroindolinobenzopyrans with a nitro group proceeds mainly via the formation of the excited triplet state of the molecule. The reaction proceeds partly from the triplet state [(SP )3] of the spiropyran to the triplet state (X)3 of the cis-cisoid isomer which subsequently transforms into the CF and partly from (SP )3 to the CF. This process from (X)3 to the colored form is accelerated by the presence of atmospheric oxygen (Scheme 6).2,28 For the photocoloring reaction, the participation of singlet or triplet state depends not only on the substituent but also on the nature of the heterocyclic component. 

Indolines, benzoxazole, and benzothiazole are possible as 2-methylene heterocycles. The number of known spirooxazine derivatives is much less than for the spiropyrans. This may be partly due to lack of many substituted o-nitrosonaphthols and partly due to lack of sufficient stability of spiro-oxazines. The structures of parent spirooxazines and the Xmax of their photomerocyanine forms are listed in Table 5. The Xmax of the colored forms of compounds 41-43 are not described in the literature. 

In contrast to normal spiropyrans, in spironaphthooxazine series, as the polarity of the solvent decreases, a hypsochromic shift of the of the colored form is observed, except for spiropiperidinonaphthooxazine.79 For example, the of 33 shifts to shorter wavelength of ca. 20-60 nm in less polar solvents, such as toluene and cyclohexane, compared to ethanol. This result may suggest that the ground state of the photomerocyanine form in spironaphthooxazine is less polar than the excited state and the neutral quinoid form largely contributes to the photomerocyanine form in the ground state. 

Unlike spiropyran, 2 -substitution in spirooxazine has no effect on Alkoxy, chloro, and nitro substituents at 5-position, and alkyl substituent at 1-position in the indoline component have small effects on the Xmix of the colored form. 

Like other spiropyrans, the colored form of spirooxazines generated by UV irradiation, reconverts to the colorless form. However, it is possible to measure the thermal decay rates and activation energies at ambient temperature, since this fading reaction obeys first-order kinetics in solution. The thermal decay rate constant for spiroindolinonaphthooxazine has been found to be 0.02-0.15s 1 in ethanol and 0.1-1.4s 1 in toluene, although this may vary according to the substituent groups.72,77 However, these values are smaller than those of the spironaphthopyran series. 

The colored form of spiropyrans 10 presented in Table 3, which shows Vax in the near IR, has been prepared using similar molecular design.13 In contrast to spiropyran 10, the merocyanine form 45 is unstable, and quickly changed to the spiro form 45. The thermal stability is affected by presence... 

In the spirothiopyran 45b, the spiro form has two absorptions in the visible region (Vax 490 and 474nm) due to a polyene chromophore from IV-vinyl group to oxygen of the benzopyrylium component.90 The colored form of 45b produced by visible light irradiation shows the Vax at 570 nm. This colored form 45b" was confirmed by characteristic 1H-NMR spectra, as well as that of spiropyran. 

Chapter 4 is concerned with a technically important group of leuco compounds which like the spiropyrans are not formed by reduction of the parent dye, but by formation of a spiro structure from the dye in such a way that the newly created sp3 center destroys the conjugation, and hence, the color of the chromophore. These are the phthalides (spirolactones) and the position of equilibrium is determined by pH rather than a redox process. Such materials are used mainly as color formers in pressure-sensitive... 

A spiropyran compound bearing a pyridinium group and a long alkyl chain behaves as a surfactant. The components shown in Scheme 1 exhibit reverse photochromism in polar solvents. The colored merocyanine form is more stable than the spiropyran form in the dark. Upon photoirradiation at A>510 nm, the polar merocyanine form is converted to the hydrophobic spiropyran form so that the CMC (critical micelle concentration) of the surfactant decreases. Consequently, when the initial concentration is set between the CMC of the two forms, photoirradiation induces a sudden formation of micelles at a certain conversion to the spiropyran form corresponding to the CMC of the mixed micelle of the two forms. 

Photochromism of Spiropyrans. The reversible photochromism of spiro-pyrans has been exhaustively studied by Fischer and his colleagues58 and shown to be a reversible transformation between the spiropyran form A (colorless) and the merocyanine form B (colored). 

Much interest has been devoted to the photochromic behaviour of simple chromenes, especially because of practical applications of spiropyrans, particularly indolinospirans.5 Kolc and Becker30 have been able to demonstrate the o-quinoneallide structure of the colored form 4, by producing it in THF at -75° and trapping by reduction with LiAlHj. It is concluded31,32 that the same intermediates occur when spiropyrans are irradiated, because only the pyran moiety has an... 

Both the well-known photochromism453,454 and the phosphorescence454 of spiropyrans are enhanced by sensitizers such as benzo-phenone. Consequently the photochemical opening of these compounds to the deeply colored merocyanines can proceed via triplet states. 

The reverse reaction, the photochemical ring opening of spiropyranes (22b), takes place by absorption in the short-wave uv region of the spectrum and the merocyanine isomer (22a) is obtained. The electron transition of (22a) is in the visible spectral region, whereas (22b) is colorless. As a result, the dye solution can change from colodess to a colored solution (87,88). These photochromic reactions can be used for technical applications (89). 

The structures of spiropyran-modified poly(L-glutamate)s are strongly affected by light or dark conditions, as demonstrated by the CD spectra in Figure 10. Before irradiation, the colored solutions show the CD spectrum of a random coil conformation. After exposure to sunlight, the colorless solutions display the typical CD pattern of the a-helix, thus indicating that the isomerization of the side chains causes a transition from coil to helix in the polypeptide chains. The photoinduced conforma-... 

Fig. 5 Smart UV-responsive coating on silica nanoparticles with PNIPAM brushes functionalized with FRET donors, 4-(2-acryloyloxyethylamino)-7-nitro-2,l,3-benzoxadiazole (NBDAE), and photoswitchable acceptors, l -(2-methacryloxyethyl)-3, 3 -dimethyl-6-nitro-spiro(2//-l-benzo-pyran-2,2 -indoline) (SPMA). The UV radiation induces the change from colorless spiropyran derivatives in the outer part of the coating (7) to the fluorescent merocyanine form (2). Thus, FRET with the benzoxadiazole moieties in the inner part of the coating is enabled and the fluorescence color changes from green to red. By variation of the temperature and induction of a collapse of the PNIPAM chains (3), the FRET efficiency can be tuned (4). Reprinted, with permission, from [70], Copyright (2009) American Chemical Society...

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