Color photographic element containing ballasted triazole derivative and inhibitor releasing coupler

#This invention relates to a color photographic element containing a triazole derivative dispersed in one light sensitive layer and in a second light sensitive layer having a different spectral sensitivity than the first layer, a mild inhibitor releasing coupler.

#It is an object of silver halide-based color photographic materials to reproduce colors in both an accurate (in terms of hue) and vivid (in terms of saturation) manner. In practice, the reproduction of color by such materials is limited in two ways. First, the sensitivity of the silver halide emulsions to a desired single light color is not perfect and they will absorb some amount of light of undesired color. This leads to formation of dye in the wrong color record resulting in less pure hues. For example, the red sensitivity of the emulsions generally occurs at longer wavelengths than the human eye. If the red sensitivity of the film is moved closer to the eye maximum sensitivity, its sensitivity to green light also increases. Thus in such situations, the red sensitive layer is partially exposed during green light exposures leading to the formation of some cyan dye along with magenta dye. This alters the hue of the image and decreases its saturation. Second, the image dyes formed are not perfect in hue and have unwanted side absorbencies. Thus, some density in the unwanted color regions is formed in addition to the desired density, again degrading color saturation. Finally in some circumstances, it is desirable to increase color saturation to a greater degree than the actual image in order to make the image visually more pleasing.

#It is well known to that color reproduction of such materials can be partially controlled by the use of imagewise development inhibitor releasing (DIR) couplers. During development, DIR couplers react with oxidized developer to release an inhibitor fragment or a precursor of an inhibitor fragment which can diffuse out of that layer and into a different color record where inhibition occurs. This has the overall effect of reducing the amount of dye formed in one color record as a function of exposure of another and can effectively be used to manipulate hue and increase color saturation. This process is called interimage. For example, a film with a DIR coupler in the green layer and given a mostly green exposure will cause a decrease in development in the red record due to the action of the inhibitor released in the green. This causes less cyan dye to be formed than when the inhibitor was not present. The final green image will have less red density and its overall saturation will be increased. It should be noted that all possible colors are not weighted equally in terms of creating a pleasing overall image and that the reproduction of some key colors (for example, flesh tones, green grass, blue sky, etc.) is more important than others.

#The synthesis of IEM-A is shown in the following Scheme I as follows:

#Synthesis of IEM-A: A stirred solution of Compound 1 (11.2 g, 50 mmol) in tetrahydrofuran (75 ml) was cooled to −7° C. A mixture of Compound 2 (15.0 g, 49 mmol) in tetrahydrofuran (50 ml) and pyridine (25 ml) was added to the stirred solution over 0.5 hour keeping the temperature at −1° C. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 17 hours. The mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure and the residual oil was poured into a mixture of ice/water (500 ml) and concentrated hydrochloric acid (100 ml). The aqueous mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate (200 ml) and the extract dried over magnesium sulphate and concentrated under reduced pressure to give a gum. A solution of potassium hydroxide (2.8 g, 50 mmol) in methanol (20 ml) was added to a stirred solution of the gum dissolved in methanol (150 ml). After stirring at room temperature for 0.25 hour, the solution was poured into 3N hydrochloric acid (300 ml). The aqueous solution was extracted with ethyl acetate (2×150 ml) and the extract dried over magnesium sulphate and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude material was purified by column chromatography eluting with 1:9 60-80 petroleum ether: ethyl acetate to give a glass. The glass was crystallized from ethyl acetate (100 ml)/60-80 petroleum ether (20 ml) to give a pale pink solid, 14.2 g (63%). Expected C, 71.96; H, 8.50; N, 12.44; Found C, 71.54; H, 8.35; N, 12.37%.

#The invention is illustrated in the following bilayer and multilayer examples: