Latent photochromism (pseudothermochromism) and photofatigue of crystalline 2-(2′,4′-dinitrobenzyl)pyridine

Along with the metastable 2-(2′,4′-dinitrophenylmethylidene)-1,2-dihydropyridine (NH) and the unstable 6-aci-nitro-2-nitro-5-(2′-pyridylmethylene)-1,3-cyclohexadiene (OH), the stable form of 2-(2′,4′-dinitrobenzyl)pyridine (DNBP), CH, is photochemically converted into small amounts of 1,2-bis(2′,4′-dinitrophenyl)-1,2-bis(2′-pyridyl)ethane, trans-bis[5-nitro-2-(pyridine-2-carbonyl)phenyl]diazene N-oxide, 6-nitro-3-(2′-pyridyl)-2,1-benzisoxazole and 3-nitropyrido[1,2-b]quinolin-6-ium-11-olate. The latent photochromism of DNBP, as shown by x-ray analysis of the structures of the side-products and ESR/IR measurements, is attributed to open-shell reactions that are initiated by hydrogen photoabstraction and subsequent creation of two monoradicals, NH ^̇ and OH^̇. Large amounts of the radicals (ca 50% NH^̇ and 70% OH^̇) confined in the crystalline interior are persistent under ambient conditions. Through quasi-periodic reactions, the remaining radicals partially recover the ground-state isomers CH, NH and OH, or decay to the side-products, which results in crystalline photofatigue. Together with proton tunneling from the excited CH, the radical reactions represent dominant mechanism for the creation of NH and OH in the low-temperature regimes, but are successfully competed by the closed-shell reactions at higher temperatures. The precursor state, whose existence was assumed previously from transient absorption spectroscopy, may be identified as the radical OH^̇. The present work represents the first study of the photofatigue of a 2-(2′,4′-dinitrobenzyl)pyridine compound and extends the 'classical' mechanism of the photochromic reactions of nitrobenzylpyridines with a set of open-shell radical reaction routes.