1,2-Bis[5-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-2-methyl­thio­phen-3-yl]-3,3,4,4,5,5-hexa­fluoro­cyclo­pentene

The title compound, C(43)H(32)F(6)N(2)S(2), is a new symmetrical photochromic diaryl­ethene derivative with 9-ethyl­carbazol-3-yl substituents. The mol­ecule adopts a photoactive anti­parallel conformation [Irie (2000). Chem. Rev. 100, 1685–1716; Kobatake et al. (2002). Chem. Commun. pp. 2804–2805], with a dihedral angle between the mean planes of the two thio­phene rings of 56.23 (6)°. The distance between the two reactive C atoms is 3.497 (3) Å. In the crystal, two mol­ecules are associated through a pair of C—H⋯F inter­molecular hydrogen bonds, forming a centrosymmetric dimer. Dimers are linked by weak π–π inter­actions [centroid–centroid distance = 3.8872 (13) Å], forming chains along the c axis.