Photobehaviour of di(phenylbutadienyl)arenes containing nitrogen and sulfur heteroatoms

Abstract

The photophysics and photochemistry of 1,4- and 1,3-di(phenylbutadienyl)benzene, and two analogues of the latter where the central benzene ring has been replaced by pyridine and thiophene rings, have been studied. The combined effects of the heteroatoms, the length of the olefin chains and the type of conjugation on the photobehaviour have been determined and compared with results previously obtained for the corresponding ethene derivatives. The conformational equilibria were investigated by selective photoexcitation: in the case of the 1,3 hydrocarbon and the pyridine analogues, the spectral properties of two rotamers are reported.