4342
J . Org. Chem. 2000, 65, 4342-4347
Syn th esis a n d P h otoch r om ism of Cr ow n ed Sp ir oben zoth ia p yr a n :
F a cilita ted P h otoisom er iza tion by Coop er a tive Com p lexa tion of
Cr ow n Eth er a n d Th iop h en ola te Moieties w ith Meta l Ion s
Mutsuo Tanaka,† Kenji Kamada,† Hisanori Ando,† Takashi Kitagaki,‡
Yasuhiko Shibutani,‡ and Keiichi Kimura*,§
Osaka National Research Institute, AIST, 1-8-13, Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, J apan,
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Osaka Institute of Technology, 5-16-1,
Ohmiya, Asahi-ku, Osaka 535-8585, J apan, and Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Systems
Engineering, Wakayama University, 930, Sakae-dani, Wakayama 640-8510, J apan
kimura@sys.wakayama-u.ac.jp
Received February 8, 2000
Spirobenzothiapyrans bearing monoaza-12-crown-4, -15-crown-5, -18-crown-6, and oligooxyethylene
moieties were synthesized, and their photochromism was examined in the presence of cations in
acetonitrile. The cation complexation by their crown ether moieties cannot induce thermal
isomerization to their corresponding colored merocyanine form, unlike the corresponding spiroben-
zopyran derivatives. The UV-light-induced isomerization was, however, facilitated by the cation
complexation of the crown ether moieties and the affinity of the merocyanine thiophenolate anion
to metal ions, especially in the presence of Li+ and Ag+. The presence of Ag+ brought about the
most remarkable effect in the facilitation of photoisomerization of the spirobenzothiapyrans and
the thermal stability of the colored merocyanine form mainly due to the powerful interaction of
the thiophenolate anion with the soft metal ion.
It is of great interest to apply photochromic compounds
devices does not seem to be very easy due to the poor
thermal stability of their merocyanine forms as compared
with spirobenzopyrans.
for photoresponsive devices. Various photochromic com-
pounds have been synthesized and their photochromism
has been examined extensively.1 Spirobenzopyrans2 and
spirobenzothiapyrans3,4 are well-known photochromic
compounds, which isomerize from the spiropyran forms
to their corresponding merocyanine forms by UV light,
and vice versa by visible light or heat. However, the
application of spirobenzothiapyrans to photochromic
It has been recognized, on the other hand, that the
incorporation of a crown ether moiety to spirobenzopyr-
ans facilitates photoisomerization to merocyanine forms
by the metal-ion complexation of the crown ether moiety
in the presence of metal ions.5-7 This concept prompted
us to design spirobenzothiapyrans bearing a crown ether
moiety, what we call crowned spirobenzothiapyrans,
expecting facilitated photoisomerization similar to the
crowned spirobenzopyrans. In our preliminary results,
significant facilitated photoisomerization was observed
with a crowned spirobenzothiapyran in the presence of
alkali metal ions, especially Li+.8 Here, we report the
syntheses and photochromism of crowned spirobenzothi-
apyrans carrying different crown ether rings in details.
† Osaka National Research Institute.
‡ Osaka Institute of Technology.
§ Wakayama University.
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Syn t h esis. The syntheses of crowned spirobenzo-
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10.1021/jo000175r CCC: $19.00 © 2000 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 06/09/2000