Multiphoton-gated photochromic reaction of diarylethene derivatives in PMMA solid film

摘要

Cycloreversion (ring-opening) process of a photochromic diarylethene derivative in PMMA polymer solid film was investigated by means of picosecond laser photolysis. As was observed in our previous work in solution phase, the drastic enhancement of the cycloreversion reaction yield was observed under picosecond laser exposure. The excitation intensity effect of the reaction profiles revealed that the successive multiphoton absorption process leading to higher excited states opened the efficient cycloreversion process with reaction yield of (50 +/- 10)%. These results indicate that the multiphoton-gated reaction takes place also in the polymer solid and its efficiency was almost comparable with that in solution phase. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.