Preparation of Polystyrene Containing Photochromic Functional Group

The photochromic supramolecular systems based on photochromism have been extensively investigated in recent years. Owing to their excellent stimuli-response properties, photochromic benzospiropyrans are of the most popular dyes, are currently paid notable attention. Spiropyrans have been widely studied for use in data storages, chemical sensors, smart materials, also biological imaging [1]. Because of polystyrene (PS) is a transparent, colorless polymer, it is used extensively for lowcost applications. Polystyrene is a commercially available and versatile polymer, which is used for many purposes such as packaging, consuming goods, and etc [2]. In this work, synthesis of polystyrene, having photochromic properties is studied. To this purpose, polystyrene was functionalized with 5-(Chloromethyl)salicylaldehyde by friedel crafts reaction firstly. The product was obtained by reaction between 1,3,3- Trimethyl-2-methyleneindoline and salicylaldehyde on the polystyrene (scheme 1 ). The product was characterized by IR and 1HNMR spectroscopy methods, as well as elemental analysis. The photochromic properties of the resulting photochromic functionalized polystyrene were studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy