Photochromic performance of a dithienylethene-indolinooxazolidine hybrid.

The synthesis and the photochromic performance of a single-molecule system based on the covalent combination of dithienylperfluorocyclopentene and indolino[2,1-b]oxazolidine are described. The photoinduced interconversion between four states was shown to be deeply dependent on solvent and can be selectively controlled by adjusting the irradiation wavelength in chlorobenzene solutions. The color can be switched between colorless, yellow, pink and green on demand. This biphotochromic hybrid compound, despite poor fatigue resistance properties of the most conjugated colored isomer, displays large contrasts in structure, switching between zwitterionic and neutral character, independent chromophores and highly conjugated pi systems.