Photochromism is a term that describes the photoreversible isomerization between two different states or isomers with distinct performances. Among all the photochromic molecule family, diarylethene is considered one of the most popular star molecules on account of its fast photoresponsibility, excellent thermal stability, fatigue resistance, high photoreaction quantum yield, and conversion ratio as well as good performances in both solution and solid phases. In the past decades, the development of diarylethene is witnessed in molecule design, solution applications, surface/interface assembly, bulky crystals and polymers, optic‐electronic devices fabrication, and biotechnology. This review mainly focuses on the latest development of diarylethenes in recent five years and commences with the newly designed molecular structures with functional ethene bridges and aryl moieties. The application of diarylethenes in materials science, soft materials, molecular data processing, and biomaterials, is further discussed in prospect. A brief summary is given in the end of the review together with some perspectives.

中文翻译：

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Diarylethenes的努力：新结构，高性能和光明的未来

光致变色是描述具有不同性能的两个不同状态或异构体之间的光可逆异构化的术语。在所有光致变色分子家族中，由于芳基乙烯具有快速的光响应性，优异的热稳定性，耐疲劳性，高的光反应量子产率，转化率以及在固相和固相中的良好性能，因此被认为是最受欢迎的星形分子之一。 。在过去的几十年中，在分子设计，溶液应用，表面/界面组装，大体积晶体和聚合物，光电器件制造以及生物技术等方面见证了二芳基乙烯的发展。这项审查主要侧重于最近五年二芳烃的最新发展，并从新设计的具有功能性乙烯桥和芳基部分的分子结构开始。二芳基醚在材料科学，软材料，分子数据处理和生物材料中的应用将在未来进行进一步讨论。回顾的结尾给出了简短的总结以及一些观点。