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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Multicolor photochromism of two- and three-component diarylethene crystals
Masakazu Morimoto1, Seiya Kobatake, Masahiro Irie
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, Hakozaki 6-10-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
Abstract:
Novel photochromic single crystals composed of three different kinds of diarylethenes, 1,2-bis(3,5-dimethyl-2-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (1a), 1,2-bis(2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (2a), and 1,2-bis(2-methyl-5-p-methoxyphenyl-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (3a), have been prepared. The three-component crystals turned yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, green, or black upon irradiation with light of appropriate wavelengths. The colors of the crystals were thermally stable in the dark and completely bleached by irradiation with visible light. Such multicolored photochromic crystals have potential for the application to optoelectronic devices, such as multifrequency three-dimensional optical memory media or full-color displays.
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