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Synfacts 2008(10): 1044-1044  
DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1078034
Synthesis of Materials and Unnatural Products
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart ˙ New York

Rapidly Switching Photochromic Dyes

Contributor(s): Timothy M. Swager, Rebecca R. Parkhurst
K. Fujita, S. Hatano, D. Kato, J. Abe*
Aoyama Gakuin University, Kanagawa, Japan
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Publication History

Publication Date:
22 September 2008 (online)

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Rapidly Switching Photochromic DyesSynfacts 2008; 2008(11): 1239-1239
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1083567

Significance

The authors report the design and synthesis of a new photochromic radical diffusion-inhibited hexaarylbiimidazole. By introducing one naphthalene moiety to create a heterodimer, they have expanded the range of absorption to include all visible light. Upon UV irradiation the colorless compound turns green with a thermal bleaching rate of t1/2 = 260 ms at 295 K such that decolor­ation occurs faster than diffusion of the colored species.