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Commercialization of Photochromic Dyes and Products

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Commercialization of Photochromic Dyes and Products Background While most people, including this author, hold quite optimistic views of the photochromic industry, very little commercial success has been realized. In Professor Giacomo Ciamician’s famous paper on photochemistry of the future, he predicted that photochromic clothing would be popular. It turns out that he was right. His paper was written in 1912 and photochromic clothing was not commercially successful until the early 1990’s. These optimistic projections are commonplace. Unfortunately, the commercial successes have not been rapid or frequent. This paper is intended to address some of the critical success factors in achieving photochromic related profitability. The …show more content…

The three most critical areas that offer opportunity under research and development are those that effect the finished product performance to the greatest degree, specifically: 1. dye synthesis 2. dye stabilization 3. dye application 1. Dye synthesis Dye synthesis usually has the strongest effect on the final product because the chemical structure defines the fundamental performance of the dye. Small performance modifications can usually be achieved using additional techniques, but large changes become difficult or impossible. For example, changing the dye absorption from purple to blue using an additive is often possible, but a change from purple to orange is quite unlikely. Through synthesis, a large color change (or any dramatic property change) is much more feasible. There are four primary areas of opportunity to enhance dye performance through synthesis. a. improve fatigue resistance - The most common and greatest challenge to photochromic applications is product life or fatigue resistance. By synthesizing dyes that are inherently more stable, subsequent efforts to increase fatigue resistance can result in a final product with superior stability. Increasingly stable products not only offer competitive advantages but can open entirely new markets and applications. b. reduce costs - Most dyes are considered by dye purchasers to be relatively expensive as the dye cost is usually the most expensive component in a finished product. The

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