Abstract
Two novel triazine-based dendrimers comprising a dithienylethene core and eight and 16 ethyl groups around the periphery were synthesised in high yields in a convergent way, without using tedious protection and chromatographic separation steps. Their optical properties such as photochromism, fluorescence emission and film-forming behaviour were investigated. The new symmetrical dendritic dithienylethenes showed typical photochromic behaviour in solution and good film-forming performance in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. Moreover, the dendrimers have demonstrated remarkable fluorescence enhancement and good solubility in common organic solvents, compared with the corresponding small molecule diarylethene. Thus, the new dendrimers as optoelectronic materials, have potential applications in optical storage, photo-switches, and so on.