Methacrylate-tethered analogs of the laser dye PM567--synthesis, copolymerization with methyl methacrylate and photostability of the copolymers.

The synthesis and characterization of new analogs of the laser dye PM567 (4,4-difluoro-1,3,5,7,8-pentamethyl-2,6-diethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene) with the 8-position substituted by a linear chain with n methylenes (n = 1, 3, 5, 10 or 15) tethered with an acetoxy or methacryloyloxy group (PnAc and PnMA, respectively) is described. The monomeric dyes PnMA have been successfully copolymerized with methyl methacrylate (MMA), yielding linear copolymers of high optical quality where the covalently bonded chromophore is separated from the polymeric main chain by a spacer of variable length. The photostability of the solid polymeric materials under UV (310 nm) irradiation (method ASTM G 53-77) has been compared with those of the model dyes PnAc and PM567 as solid solutions in poly-MMA (PnAc-PMMA and PM567-PMMA, respectively).