The goal of this project is to understand how differences in structure between three different salicylidene imines affect the activation energy of a photochromic process. This process is a phototautomerization that occcurs with the molecular rearrangement from an enol to a keto form and back again. The spectroscopy of these photochromic imines is done by using 405 nm light, a tungsten lamp, and a visible spectrometer with fiber optic input. The reflectance spectrum of the imine can be monitored as it changes from the keto form back to the enol form. The salicylidene imines varied only by the para substituent, one being a moderate activator, another being a weak deactivator, and the last being a moderate deactivator. Using the Arrhenius Equation and the experimentally determined rate constant (k), the activation energies of the three compounds were found and will be presented.

Determining the activation energy of a series of spectroscopic imines

249th National Meeting (2015)

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