IMAGE FORMING MATERIAL

1 . An image forming material comprising, on a substrate, an image forming layer which includes at least (A) a novolac type phenolic resin containing phenol as a structural unit, (B) a photo-thermal converting agent, and (C) a compound represented by the following formula (1-1):

wherein in formula (1-1), R 1 represents a residue which, together with N 1 , forms a ring structure; R 2 and R 3 each independently represent an organic group and may combine with each other to form a ring structure; at least one of R 2 and R 3 may combine with R 1 to form a ring structure; and X − represents a conjugate base of an organic acid or an inorganic acid.

2 . The image forming material according to claim 1 , wherein the compound represented by formula (1-1) is represented by the following formula (1-1-a):

wherein in formula (1-1-a), R 2 and R 3 each independently represent an organic group and may combine with each other to form a ring structure; X − represents a conjugate base of an organic acid or an inorganic acid; R 4 through R 7 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, may be the same as or different from one another, and may combine with one another to form a ring; R 4 through R 7 may each combine with L 1 , R 2 or R 3 to form a ring structure; when a bond between L 1 and C 1 or C 2 is a double bond or a triple bond, some of R 4 through R 7 do/does not exist in accordance with the existence of the double bond or the triple bond; L 1 represents a single bond or a divalent linkage group which, together with —C 1 —N 1 —C 2 , forms a ring structure; R 4 and R 5 may represent an identical atom or an identical substituent so that a bond between C 1 and R 4 , which is also R 5 , becomes a double bond; and R 6 and R 7 may represent an identical atom or an identical substituent so that a bond between C 2 and R 6 , which is also R 7 , becomes a double bond.

3 . The image forming material according to claim 1 , wherein a mass of the compound represented by formula (1-1) is 50% or less of a mass of a total solids content in the image forming layer.

4 . The image forming material according to claim 1 , wherein the novolac type phenolic resin is a resin obtained by condensing phenol, a substituted phenol represented by the following formula (I), and an aldehyde:

wherein in formula (I), R 1 and R 2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or a halogen atom.

5 . The image forming material according to claim 4 , wherein a phenol content in monomers that constitute the novolac type phenolic resin is from 21 to 90% by mole.

6 . The image forming material according to claim 4 , wherein a weight average molecular weight of the novolac type phenolic resin is from 500 to 50000.

7 . The image forming material according to claim 4 , wherein a proportion of the novolac type phenolic resin to a total solids content in the image forming layer is from 0.1 to 20% by mass.

8 . An image forming material comprising, on a substrate, an image forming layer which includes at least (A) a novolac type phenolic resin containing phenol as a structural unit, (B) a photo-thermal converting agent, and (C) an onium salt represented by the following formula (1-2):

X − M +   Formula (1-2)

wherein, in formula (1-2), X − represents an anion including at least one substituent that has an alkali dissociative proton and M + is represented by the following formula (M-I)

wherein in formula (M-1), R 1 represents a residue which, together with N 1 , forms a ring structure; R 2 and R 3 each independently represent an organic group and may combine with each other to form a ring structure; and at least one of R 2 and R 3 may combine with R 1 to form a ring structure.