Synthesis and Properties of Substituted Polyacetylenes Containing Spiropyran Moiety in the Side Group

Abstract

We have synthesized novel monosubsituted acetylenes with spiropyran moiety and then polymerized them with Rh complex catalyst, Rh norbornadiene Cl 2. Their relative weight-average molecular weights determined by GPC were in the range of 6.4 10 4 7.1 10 4. All polymers were soluble in organic solvents such as toluene, chloroform and THF. The obtained polymer could be confirmed to exhibit photoisomerization behavior when irradiated by ultraviolet or visible light. Further, from the TGA measurement of polymers, it was shown that all the polymers had a high thermal stability with a thermal weight loss initiation temperature from 300 to 350 .