Effect of alkyl chain length on thermochromism of novel nitro compounds

A series of novel nitro compounds containing different alkyl chain length (x=2∼5), 1,5-bis(hydroxyalkylamino)-2,4-dinitrobenzene (BDBx), are synthesized and their thermochromic behavior is investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy. All the BDBx crystals synthesized show yellow color at room temperature. BDBx (x=2∼4) samples display orange color even in the solid when heated above respective thermochromic transition temperature, while the yellow color of BDB5 changes to orange with melting. The orange color of BDBx crystals returns to yellow when cooled down to room temperature, indicating that the thermochromic behavior of BDBx is reversible. The thermochromic transition temperatures of BDBx crystals are found to be decreased with increasing the alkyl chain length, exhibiting evenodd fluctuation.