This work deals with the synthesis and study of a new family of photochromic di(heteroaryl)ethenes as well as their use as bridging ligand in coordination chemistry in order to design photo-switchable molecular materials. Over the past few years, the interest of the scientific world to photochromism is growing for its potential use in optical memory devices, optoelectronic or any others photonic devices.Thus, new di(heteroaryl)ethenes, structurally close from terarylenes, have been synthesized and their photochromic properties have been studied in depth. These new systems, called tetrarylènes, enable us to obtain biphotochromic compounds, introducing dissymmetry in the structure. Synthesis of mono- and di-nuclear copper(II) complexes can be performed using these tetrarylenes. Some cases revealed, by EPR study, the reversible release and uptake of the metal ion in solution upon irradiation.Key-words : photochromism, diarylethenes, terarylenes, switches, transitory absorption, Coordination chemistry, EPR
