Nonsymmetrical 3,4-dithienylmaleimides by cross-coupling reactions with indium organometallics: synthesis and photochemical studies.

The synthesis and photochemical study of novel nonsymmetrical 1,2-dithienylethenes (DTEs) with a maleimide bridge have been carried out. The synthetic approach to the DTEs was based on successive selective palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of 5-susbtituted-2-methyl-3-thiophenyl indium reagents with 3,4-dichloromaleimides. The required organoindium reagents were prepared from 2-methyl-3,5-dibromothiophene by a selective (C-5) coupling reaction with triorganoindium compounds (R3 In) and subsequent metal-halogen exchange. The coupling reactions usually gave good yields and have a high atom economy with substoichiometric amounts of R3 In. The results of photochemical studies show that these novel dithienylmaleimides undergo a photocyclization reaction upon irradiation in the UV region and a photocycloreversion after excitation in the visible region, thus they can be used as photochemical switches. ON-OFF operations can be repeated in successive cycles without appreciable loss of effectiveness in the process.