Tetrahedron Letters
Photochromism of tetrahydroindolizines. Part XIV: synthesis
of cis-fixed conjugated photochromic pyridazinopyrrolo
[1,2-b]isoquinolines incorporating carbon-rich linkers
a
a
a
a
Saleh A. Ahmed a,b, , Khalid S. Khairou , Basim H. Asghar , Hussni A. Muathen , Nariman M. A. Nahas ,
⇑
Hossa F. Alshareef a
a Chemistry Department, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, 21955 Makkah Al-Mokarramma, Saudi Arabia
b Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, 17516 Assiut, Egypt
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 1 June 2013
Revised 30 January 2014
Accepted 13 February 2014
Available online 1 March 2014
New carbon-rich photochromic tetrahydroindolizines (THIs) bearing dihydroisoquinoline derivatives as
heterocyclic bases (region B) have been synthesized via different chemical and photochemical pathways.
Three alternative pathways for the synthesis of the target photochromic THI-based pyridazinopyrrol-
o[1,2-b]isoquinolines via in situ trapping with hydrazine hydrate have been established. In order to
obtain high product yields, different Sonogashira-mediated coupling reactions have been optimized.
Low temperature multichannel UV–vis and flash photolysis techniques were used to detect the photo-
chromic and kinetic properties of the synthesized system.
Keywords:
Photochromism
Tetrahydroindolizine (THI)
Linker-conjugates
Rapid system
cis-Fixed
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Kinetics
Because of the potential applications of photochromic com-
pounds in erasable optical memories and photoswitches, they have
attracted significant attention.1–10 Upon light irradiation, photo-
chromic molecules exhibit reversible color and structural changes.
Photochromic molecules can be employed to modulate various
physicochemical properties upon light irradiation, and they have
received remarkable attention for their potential applications as
photoswitches and optical memory systems.11–16 Since the pio-
neering discovery of Dürr on photochromic dihydroindolizines
(DHIs) and tetrahydroindolizines (THIs), they have been consid-
ered as very interesting photochromic families because of their
specific properties such as high photo-fatigue resistance, broad
absorption spectra in the visible region, high sensitivity to activa-
tion with light, and high photochromic reactivity.17–20 The explora-
tion of new di- and tetrahydroindolizine structures with improved
properties has received significant attention in organic materials
science.18–22 It is well known that suitable functionalization in
both regions (region A is fluorene, region B is the ester or cyano
groups, and region C is the heterocyclic base part) of the DHI skel-
eton with different substituents can modify effectively the
photochromic behavior of dihydroindolizines.23–26 The position of
the substituents is also important for fine-tuning of their optoelec-
tronic properties.20–26 So far, our related research has been mainly
focused on the effects of subsitutents on the fluorene and pyrida-
zine moieties in the dihydroindolizine photochromes.18–31
To the best of our knowledge, there are not many reports on
photochromic tetrahydroindolizines (THIs). Such molecules under-
go a photoinduced change of color in solution, solid state, and in
polymer matrices when exposed to UV irradiation or direct sun-
light, and return to their initial state when the illumination ceases,
normally via a thermal pathway. The photochromic behavior of
THIs (Fig. 1) is based on a reversible pyrroline ring-opening,
induced by light, which converts a colorless form (usually named
the ‘closed form’) into the colored form (betaine form).23,24 Few re-
ports on photochromic THIs showed that the thermal reverse reac-
tion, the 1,5-electrocyclization from the ring-open betaine to the
THI shows rates extending from milliseconds to several weeks,23,24
depending on the substituents and structure of the molecule
involved. This interesting wide range in the lifetime of the colored
form allows these molecules to find many versatile applications as
shown by DHI photochromes.30,31
In continuation of our previous work dealing with the synthesis
and properties of photochromic tetrahydroindolizines (THIs),23,24 in
this Letter, the synthesis of new, highly conjugated, photochromic
⇑
Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 882332200, +966 530435760; fax: +20
882342708.
0040-4039/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.