Synthesis and Property upon a New Photochromic Diarylethene Bearing an Isoxazole Moiety

A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene bearing an isoxazole moiety was synthesized and its photochromic and fluorescent properties were also investigated. The compounds exhibited remarkable photochromism both in solution and in PMMA film. In PMMA film, the open-ring isomer of the diarylethene 1 exhibited relatively strong fluorescence at 405 nm when excited at 310 nm. The fluorescence intensity declined along with the photochromism upon irradiation with 297 nm light. All results indicated that the isoxazole moiety played a very important role during the process of photochromic reaction for the diarylethene derivative.