Salicylaldehyde Schiff base is a kind of typical photochromism and thermochromism system with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristic. In this work, three salicylaldehyde Schiff base derivatives of 1–3 were synthesized, which showed similar emissions but different photochromic/thermochromic properties in solid state. Only compound 1 exhibited reversible photo- and thermo-responsive performances in solid state according to the enol-keto tautomerism upon UV light irradiation and heating. Mechanism study showed that these different photochromic/thermochromic properties were controlled by the π-π stacking structure of adjacent molecules. This work provided a new perspective to understand the photochromic/thermochromic mechanism of salicylaldehyde Schiff base in solid state.

水杨醛席夫碱是一种典型的具有聚集诱导发射（AIE）特性的光致变色和热致变色体系。在这项工作中，合成了1-3的三种水杨醛席夫碱衍生物，它们在固态下表现出相似的发射，但具有不同的光致变色/热致变色特性。只有化合物1根据紫外光照射和加热时的烯醇-酮互变异构，在固态下表现出可逆的光响应和热响应性能。机理研究表明，这些不同的光致变色/热致变色特性受相邻分子的π-π堆积结构控制。这项工作为理解固态水杨醛席夫碱的光致变色/热致变色机理提供了新的视角。