Monomers and homopolymers, having high photoinduceable double refraction, prepared therefrom

1. A monomer which contains a group which is at least trinuclear, which is capable of absorbing the electromagnetic radiation of visible light, and which is structured such that in its thermodynamically stable state it is distended and strongly anisometric,

wherein the at least trinuclear group comprises at least one electron-attracting substituent which gives rise to a dipole moment which forms an angle of at least 20° with the longitudinal axis of the at least trinuclear group, and

further wherein said monomer is represented by the following formula,

H 2 C═C(R)—C(O)-§-T—Q—E

wherein

R is one of hydrogen and methyl,

§ denotes one of oxygen, sulfur and NR 1 ,

T denotes a (CH 2 ) n radical, optionally interrupted by one of —O—, —NR 1 — and —OSiR 1 2 O—, and optionally substituted by one of methyl and ethyl,

R 1 representing one of hydrogen and C 1 -C 4 alkyl,

n denotes the number 2, 3 or 4

Q denotes a divalent linking group, and

E denotes the trinuclear group, which is represented by the following formula (VII),

 wherein R 2 , R 2 ′, R 3 , R 3 ′, R 4 , R 5 , R 5 ′, R 6 of ring-A and R 6 ′ each independently represent hydrogen, chlorine, bromine, trifluoromethyl, methoxy, —SO 2 CH 3 , —SO 20 F 3 , —SO 2 NH 2 , —CN, benzamido and —NO 2 ; R 6 of the amide linkage —C(O)—NR 6 — is hydrogen; and R 7 , R 8 , R 9 and R 10 each independently represent hydrogen, chlorine and methyl.

2. The monomer of claim 1 wherein Q denotes a divalent linking group selected from —S—, —SO 2 —, —O—, —COO—, —OCO—, —CONR 1 —, —NR 1 —CO—, —NR 1 —, and —(CH 2 ) m —, where m is 1 or 2, and R 1 is one of hydrogen and C 1 -C 4 alkyl.

3. The monomer of claim 1 wherein birefringence effects written, by means of light, into a homopolymer prepared from said monomer, are thermally stable.

4. A monomer which contains a group which is at least trinuclear, which is capable of absorbing the electromagnetic radiation of visible light, and which is structured such that in its thermodynamically stable state it is distended and strongly anisometric,

wherein the at least trinuclear group comprises at least one electron-attracting substituent which gives rise to a dipole moment which forms an angle of at least 20° with the longitudinal axis of the at least trinuclear group, and

further wherein said monomer is represented by the following formula,

H 2 C═C(R)—C(O)-§-T—Q—E

wherein

R is one of hydrogen and methyl,

§ denotes one of oxygen, sulfur and NR 1 ,

T denotes a (CH 2 ) n radical, optionally interrupted by one of —O—, —NR 1 — and —OSiR 1 2 O—, and optionally substituted by one of methyl and ethyl,

R 1 representing one of hydrogen and C 1 -C 4 alkyl,

n denotes the number 2, 3 or 4

Q denotes a divalent linking group, and

E denotes the trinuclear group, which is represented by the following formula (V),

 wherein R 2 , R 2 ′, R 3 , R 3 ′, R 4 , R 5 , R 5 ′, R 6 and R 6 ′ each independently represent hydrogen, chlorine, bromine, trifluoromethyl, methoxy, —SO 2 CH 3 , —SO 2 CF 3 , —SO 2 NH 2 , —CN, benzamido and —NO 2 ; and R 7 , R 8 , R 9 and R 10 each independently represent hydrogen, chlorine and methyl.

5. A monomer which contains a group which is at least trinuclear, which is capable of absorbing the electromagnetic radiation of visible light, and which is structured such that in its thermodynamically stable state it is distended and strongly anisometric,

wherein the at least trinuclear group comprises at least one electron-attracting substituent which gives rise to a dipole moment which forms an angle of at least 20° with the longitudinal axis of the at least trinuclear group, and

further wherein said monomer is represented by the following formula,

H 2 C═C(R)—C(O)-§-T—Q—E

wherein

R is one of hydrogen and methyl,

§ denotes one of oxygen, sulfur and NR 1 ,

T denotes a (CH 2 ) n radical, optionally interrupted by one of —O—, —NR 1 — and —OSiR 1 2 O—, and optionally substituted by one of methyl and ethyl,

R 1 representing one of hydrogen and C 1 -C 4 alkyl,

n denotes the number 2, 3 or 4

Q denotes a divalent linking group, and

E denotes the trinuclear group, which is represented by the following formula (VIa),

 wherein R 7 , R 8 , R 9 and R 10 each independently represent hydrogen, chlorine and methyl; R 11 represents —NO 2 ; K, L and M each independently represent N, S, O, —CH 2 — and —CH═, provided that at least one of K, L and M is a hetero atom, and ring A is one of saturated and contains 1 or 2 double bonds.

6. A monomer which contains a group which is at least trinuclear, which is capable of absorbing the electromagnetic radiation of visible light, and which is structured such that in its thermodynamically stable state it is distended and strongly anisometric,

wherein the at least trinuclear group comprises at least one electron-attracting substituent which gives rise to a dipole moment which forms an angle of at least 20° with the longitudinal axis of the at least trinuclear group, and

further wherein said monomer is represented by the following formula,

H 2 C═C(R)—C(O)-§-T—Q—E

wherein

R is one of hydrogen and methyl,

§ denotes one of oxygen, sulfur and NR 1 ,

T denotes a (CH 2 ) n radical, optionally interrupted by one of —O—, —NR 1 — and —OSiR 1 2 O—, and optionally substituted by one of methyl and ethyl,

R 1 representing one of hydrogen and C 1 -C 4 alkyl,

n denotes the number 2, 3 or 4

Q denotes a divalent linking group, and

E denotes the trinuclear group, which is represented by the following formula (VIb),

 wherein R 2 ′, R 3 ′, R 5 ′ and R 6 ′ each independently represent hydrogen, chlorine, bromine, trifluoromethyl, methoxy, —SO 2 CH 3 , —SO 2 CF 3 , —SO 2 NH 2 , —CN, benzamido and —NO 2 ; R 6 is hydrogen; R 7 , R 8 , R 9 and R 10 each independently represent hydrogen, chlorine and methyl; R 11 represents —NO 2 ; K, L and M each independently represent N, S, O, —CH 2 — and —CH═, provided that at least one of K, L and M is a hetero atom, and ring A is one of saturated and contains 1 or 2 double bonds.

7. A monomer which contains a group which is at least trinuclear, which is capable of absorbing the electromagnetic radiation of visible light, and which is structured such that in its thermodynamically stable state it is distended and strongly anisometric,

wherein the at least trinuclear group comprises at least one electron-attracting substituent which gives rise to a dipole moment which forms an angle of at least 20° with the longitudinal axis of the at least trinuclear group, and

further wherein said monomer is represented by the following formula,

H 2 C═C(R)—C(O)-§-T—Q—E

wherein

R is one of hydrogen and methyl,

§ denotes one of oxygen, sulfur and NR 1 ,

T denotes a (CH 2 ) n radical, optionally interrupted by one of —O—, —NR 1 — and —OSiR 1 2 O—, and optionally substituted by one of methyl and ethyl,

R 1 representing one of hydrogen and C 1 -C 4 alkyl,

n denotes the number 2, 3 or 4

Q denotes a divalent linking group, and

E denotes the trinuclear group, which is represented by the following formula,

8. A monomer which contains a group which is at least trinuclear, which is capable of absorbing the electromagnetic radiation of visible light, and which is structured such that in its thermodynamically stable state it is distended and strongly anisometric,

wherein the at least trinuclear group comprises at least one electron-attracting substituent which gives rise to a dipole moment which forms an angle of at least 20° with the longitudinal axis of the at least trinuclear group, and

further wherein said monomer is represented by the following formula,

H 2 C═C(R)—C(O)-§-T—Q—E

wherein

R is one of hydrogen and methyl,

§ denotes one of oxygen, sulfur and NR 1 ,

T denotes a (CH 2 ) n radical, optionally interrupted by one of —O—, —NR 1 — and —OSiR 1 2 O—, and optionally substituted by one of methyl and ethyl,

R 1 representing one of hydrogen and C 1 -C 4 alkyl,

n denotes the number 2, 3 or 4

Q denotes a divalent linking group, and

E denotes the trinuclear group, which is represented by the following formula,

9. A process of preparing a homopolymer comprising homopolymerizing the monomer of claim 1 .

10. A process of preparing a homopolymer comprising hompolymerizing the monomer of claim 4 .

11. A process of preparing a homopolymer comprising homopolymerizing the monomer of claim 5 .

12. A process of preparing a homopolymer comprising homopolymerizing the monomer of claim 6 .

13. A process of preparing a homopolymer comprising homopolymerizing the monomer of claim 7 .

14. A process of preparing a homopolymer comprising homopolymerizing the monomer of claim 8 .

15. An article of manufacture comprising a homopolymer prepared from the monomer of claim 1 , said article being selected from the group consisting of film, coating, optical storage-component and holography component.

16. An article of manufacture comprising a homopolymer prepared from the monomer of claim 4 , said article being selected from the group consisting of film, coating, optical storage component and holography component.

17. An article of manufacture comprising a homopolymer prepared from the monomer of claim 5 , said article being selected from the group consisting of film, coating, optical storage component and holography component.

18. An article of manufacture comprising a homopolymer prepared from the monomer of claim 6 , said article being selected from the group consisting of film, coating, optical storage component and holography component.

19. An article of manufacture comprising a homopolymer prepared from the monomer of claim 7 , said article being selected from the group consisting of film, coating, optical storage component and holography component.

20. An article of manufacture comprising a homopolymer prepared from the monomer of claim 8 , said article being selected from the group consisting of film, coating, optical storage component and holography component.