Surface-pressure-induced reversible color change of a polydiacetylene monolayer at a gas-water interface

The photopolymerization properties and the surface pressure dependence of excitonic absorption of polydiacetylene (PDA), i.e., poly-(heptacosa-10,12-diynoic acid), are investigated by in situ reflection spectra of a monolayer at a N2 gas–water (pure water, CdCl2 aqueous solution) interface. The electronic structure of the initially appearing PDA is strongly dependent on the packing condition of diacetylene monomer, the blue- and red-form PDAs that initially appear in loose and close packing conditions, respectively. A reversible color change induced by a change in surface pressure is found for the first time in a partially polymerized PDA monolayer on pure water, in which blue and red form PDAs appear predominantly at low and high surface pressures, respectively. Further, two metastable phases, observed at wavelengths about 40 nm longer than those of the blue form, are thought to be induced by the rheological process of the substitutional sidegroups. Our results suggest that these color changes are closely related to a strain on the acetylenic backbone structure which is induced by the deformation of substitutional alkyl sidegroups.