Features of the photochromic behavior of spiroanthrooxazine in solutions

The photochromic properties of 1′,3′,3′-trimethylspiro[indolin-2′,3-3H-anthraceno[2,1-b][1,4]-oxazine] (SAO) in solutions of different polarity [n-BuOH and petroleum ether (PETh)] were studied. It was established that the quantum yield of the photocoloration φAB and the energy of activation of the thermal decolorization Ea in the PETh depend on the temperature; this is not the case in n-BuOH. The luminescence properties of SAO were investigated. It was found that the spectrum of the excitation of the luminescence in PETh depends on the temperature. These features, as well as the slower thermal decolorization of the colored form of SAO in PETh by comparison with the solutions in n-BuOH, are explained by the presence of dimers of the SAO molecules in nonpolar media in the temperature range investigated (77–300 K), whereas the SAO molecules already occur in the monomeric state at 150 K in the polar n-BuOH.