Molecular Structure Analysis of Photochromic Diarylethene

Photochromic diarylethene have received considerable attention because of their potential photonic applications. All of these applications come from the fact that when stimulated with light at appropriate wavelengths, the physical and chemical properties can be reversibly modulated. During the last decade, more and more decoration on the general structures of diarylethene and novel skeletons beyond the general structures have been developed from many motivation aspects, such as seeking for facile synthetic routes, the ability to tailor the physical and chemical properties in flexible manner and etc. This article describes recent novel development of molecular structure design strategies of diarylethene.