Synthesis, Structures, and Photochromic Behaviors of Novel Viologen Based Uranyl Coordination Polymers

Abstract

The chosen of ligands directly affects the self-assembly behaviors of uranyl compounds, and plays a critical role in the structure and function of the compounds. In this work, several ligands were selected to assembled with uranyl ions by hydrothermal method, and three uranyl coordination polymers(CPs) based on viologen functional groups were synthesized. The main skeleton of the CPs is one-dimensional(1D) chain structure. Among them, compounds 1 and 2 exhibit obvious fluorescence properties. In addition, compound 2 exhibit significantly reversible photochromic/thermochromic properties. Ultraviolet-visible spectrum and electron paramagnetic resonance(EPR) spectrum indicate that the reversible color change is due to the generation of viologen radicals from viologen ligands after irradiation. This research has realized the assembly and synthesis of several uranyl CPs based on viologen ligands, and lead to design and development of more functional materials containing depleted uranium.

Keywords

• uranyl
• viologen
• photochromic
• compound