An ab initio simulation of a dithienylethene/phenoxynaphthacenequinone photochromic hybrid

We simulate the properties of a photochromic blend synthesized by Myles, Wigglesworth and Branda [Adv. Mater. 15 (2003) 745] using ab initio tools. This hybrid multi-addressable molecular switch contains a dithienylethene moiety linked to a phenoxynaphthacenequinone group and exhibits four isomers with distinguishable excited-state features. In the first part of this work, we investigate the properties of model (isolated) dithienylethene and phenoxynaphthacenequinone photochromes, with a focus on the second family that was not fully characterized theoretically previously. In the second stage, the spectral properties of the blend are evaluated with the help of (Time-Dependent) Density Functional Theory.