Photoinduced alignment of optically active polymer containing a tempo radical end group

A new azobenzene side-chain polymer (TEMPO-PAZ) containing TEMPO (4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidinooxy) radical end group was synthesized by free radical copolymerization. Photoinduced alignment was studied on the polymer films at room temperature with linearly polarized light of 514.5 nm. The experimental results showed that the magnetic response intensity of the TEMPO-PAZ could be easily controlled by choosing the appropriate polarized light irradiating times, presumably due to the nitroxide radical in the TEMPO-PAZ molecular structure. For the polymer investigated here, the photoinduced alignment technique was introduced to increase the magnetic response intensity of polymer under irradiation, aiming originally at searching for a new photo-active organic magnetic multifunctional materials. On the other hand, experimental results also showed that the TEMPO-PAZ can be used as a material for optical image storage.EI03377-3802