Multistate and Multicolor Photochromism through Selective Cycloreversion in Asymmetric Platinum(II) Complexes with...

Four asymmetric bis(dithienylethene-acetylide) platinum(II) complexes trans-Pt(PEt3)2(L1o)(L5o) (1oo), trans-Pt(PEt3)2(L2o)(L5o) (2oo), trans-Pt(PEt3)2(L3o)(L5o) (3oo), and trans-Pt(PEt3)2(L4o)(L5o) (4oo) with two different dithienylethene-acetylides (L1o-L5o) were designed to modulate stepwise, multistate, and multicolor photochromism by modifying ring-closure absorption wavelengths. Upon irradiation under UV light, 1oo converts only to 1oc without the observation of 1co and dually ring-closed species 1cc. In contrast, both mixed ring-open/closed species oc and co as well as dually ring-closed species cc are observed upon UV light irradiation of 2oo-4oo, implying that a substantial stepwise photochromic process occurs following 2oo-4oo → 2oc-4oc/2co-4co → 2cc-4cc. The conversion percentage of dually ring-closed species at the photostationary state (PSS) is progressively increased following 1cc (0%) → 2cc (40%) → 3cc (86%) → 4cc (>95%), coinciding with the progressive red-shift of ring-closure absorption bands in free L1c (441 nm) → L2c (510 nm) → L3c (556 nm) → L4c (591 nm). Particularly, compound 2 affords four states (2oo, 2co, 2oc, and 2cc) with different colors (colorless, purple, blue, and dark blue, respectively) through a selective photochemical cycloreversion process upon irradiation with appropriate wavelengths of light. Although stepwise photocyclization reactions 3oo → 3co/3oc → 3cc and 4oo → 4co/4oc → 4cc are observed, multicolor photochromism of 3oo and 4oo could not be achieved because ring-closure absorption bands between L3c/L4c and L5c are significantly overlapped. The stepwise photochemical processes are well demonstrated by NMR, UV-vis, and infrared (IR) spectroscopy and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) computational studies.