JP3041372B2 - Thermal transfer recording material and thermal transfer recording method using the recording material - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat-sensitive transfer recording material and a heat-sensitive transfer recording method using the recording material. More specifically, the present invention relates to a heat-diffusing dye capable of being chelated to provide excellent gradation, light fastness and stability. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording material capable of obtaining an image having excellent color reproducibility at a high density, and a thermal transfer recording method capable of efficiently recording using the thermal transfer recording material.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As a method of obtaining a color hard copy, a color recording technique by ink jet, electrophotography, thermal transfer and the like has been studied.
It has advantages such as easiness of operation and maintenance, downsizing and cost reduction of the device, and low running cost.

In the thermal transfer system, a transfer sheet having a fusible ink layer on a support (also referred to as a thermal transfer recording material) is used.
Is heated by a thermal head to melt-transfer the ink onto a transfer sheet (also referred to as an image receiving material), and a transfer sheet having an ink layer containing a heat-diffusible dye (sublimable dye) on a support. There are two types of thermal diffusion transfer system (sublimation transfer system) in which the thermal diffusion dye is transferred to a transfer sheet by heating the thermal diffusion dye on a transfer-receiving sheet. The gradation of the image can be controlled by changing the transfer amount of the dye according to the change, which is advantageous for full-color printing.

[0004] In the present invention, thermal diffusion means that when a heat-sensitive transfer recording material is heated, a dye is heated in accordance with heating energy.
In the gaseous, liquid or solid state, it refers to the diffusion and / or transfer of substantially the dye alone, which is substantially synonymous with what is referred to in the art as "sublimation transfer".

In the thermal transfer recording of the thermal diffusion transfer system, the dye used in the thermal transfer recording material is important, and the stability of the obtained image, that is, the light fastness and the fixing property are not good with the conventional one. Had the disadvantage that In order to improve the point, JP-A-59-78893, JP-A-59-109394
And JP-A-60-2398 disclose an image forming method in which an image is formed by using a chelatable dye on an image receiving material by using a chelatable heat-diffusing magenta dye.

[0006]

According to these image forming methods, light fastness and fixability can be improved, but various problems still remain. That is, the magenta dye described in the above publication used for the thermal transfer recording material could not obtain a sufficient image density because the solvent solubility of the dye was low.

Further, since the chelation reaction does not proceed sufficiently during image formation, an image is formed on the image by a dye which is not chelated (usually a shorter wavelength than the chelated dye), which is not preferable in color reproduction. Improvement was desired.

Therefore, the present inventors have taken the above viewpoint into consideration,
As a result of various studies on dyes for thermal transfer recording materials, all the above-mentioned conditions can be satisfied by using the compound represented by the above general formula [I]. The present invention was found to be excellent in properties and preservability, and based on this, the present invention was completed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a heat-sensitive transfer recording material having improved storage stability, fixability and hue. Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording method for effectively recording an image using the thermal transfer recording material.

[0010]

The object of the present invention is attained by a heat-sensitive transfer recording material characterized by having at least a heat-sensitive layer containing a compound represented by the following general formula [I] on a support. You.

[0011]

Embedded image [In the formula, A and B each represent a substituent bonded to an imidazole ring at a carbon atom, a nitrogen atom, an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom, and Z is necessary to form a 5- or 6-membered ring together with the carbon atom and the nitrogen atom. And may have a 5- or 6-membered condensed ring. An object of the present invention is to superpose an image receiving material on a heat-sensitive transfer recording material having a heat-sensitive layer containing a compound represented by the above general formula [I] on a support, and apply image information to the heat-sensitive transfer recording material. This is achieved by a thermal transfer recording method characterized in that an image is formed on an image receiving material by a chelating dye formed by the reaction of the compound with a compound supplying a metal ion by applying a corresponding heat.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail.

In the general formula [I], the substituent represented by A or B has at least one carbon atom, nitrogen atom, oxygen atom or sulfur atom, and is bonded to the imidazole ring at these atoms. I have.

Representative substituents bonded to the imidazole ring by a carbon atom include groups such as cyano, carboxyl, alkyl, carbamoyl, acyl, alkoxycarbonyl, aryl and heterocycle.

Representative substituents bonded to the imidazole ring by a nitrogen atom include nitro, acylamino, sulfonamide, ureido, urethane, sulfamoylamino, heterocyclic groups and the like.

Representative substituents bonded to the imidazole ring by an oxygen atom include groups such as alkoxy, acyloxy, aryloxy and heterocyclic oxy.

Representative substituents attached to the imidazole ring by a sulfur atom include sulfamoyl, sulfonyl,
Examples include groups such as alkylthio, arylthio, and heterocyclic thio.

Specific examples of the substituents represented by A and B include an alkyl group (eg, methyl group, ethyl group, isopropyl group, n-butyl group, etc.) and a cycloalkyl group (eg, cyclopentyl group, cyclohexyl group, etc.) , An aryl group (for example, a phenyl group), an alkenyl group (for example, 2-
Propenyl group, etc.), aralkyl group (for example, benzyl group,
2-phenethyl group, etc.), alkoxy group (eg, methoxy group, ethoxy group, isopropoxy group, n-butoxy group, etc.), aryloxy group (eg, phenoxy group, etc.), cyano group, acylamino group (eg, acetylamino group, propionyl Amino group), alkylthio group (eg, methylthio group, ethylthio group, n-butylthio group, etc.), arylthio group (eg, phenylthio group, etc.), sulfonylamino group (eg, methanesulfonylamino group, benzenesulfonylamino group, etc.), ureido group (Eg, 3-methylureido group, 3,3-dimethylureido group, 1,3-dimethylureido group, etc.), sulfamoylamino group (dimethylsulfamoylamino group, etc.), carbamoyl group (eg, methylcarbamoyl group, ethyl Carbamoyl group, dimethylcarbamoyl group ), A sulfamoyl group (eg, ethylsulfamoyl group, dimethylsulfamoyl group, etc.), an alkoxycarbonyl group (eg, methoxycarbonyl group, ethoxycarbonyl group, etc.), an aryloxycarbonyl group (eg, phenoxycarbonyl group, etc.), a sulfonyl group (Eg, methanesulfonyl group, butanesulfonyl group, phenylsulfonyl group, etc.), acyl group (eg, acetyl group, propanoyl group, butyroyl group, etc.), amino group (methylamino group, ethylamino group, dimethylamino group, etc.), imide group (For example, a phthalimide group) and a heterocyclic group (for example, a benzimidazolyl group, a benzothiazolyl group, a benzoxazolyl group, etc.).

These groups may be further substituted,
Examples of the substituent include an alkyl group (eg, methyl group, ethyl group, trifluoromethyl group, etc.), an aryl group (eg, phenyl group), an alkoxy group (eg, methoxy group, ethoxy group, etc.), and an amino group (eg, methylamino group, ethyl group). An amino group), an acylamino group (eg, an acetyl group),
Examples include a sulfonyl group (eg, a methanesulfonyl group), an alkoxycarbonyl group (eg, a methoxycarbonyl group), a cyano group, a nitro group, a halogen atom (eg, a chlorine atom, a fluorine atom, and the like).

The groups represented by A and B (including the substituents when they have a substituent) are preferably groups having 12 or less carbon atoms, particularly preferably 8 or less. In the present invention, at least one of the substituents represented by A and B is preferably an aryl group or an aromatic heterocyclic group, more preferably a phenyl group as the aryl group and a nitrogen-containing aromatic group as the aromatic heterocyclic group. Particularly preferred is a heterocyclic group.

In the general formula [I], Z represents an atomic group necessary for forming a 5- or 6-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring together with a carbon atom or a nitrogen atom. Examples of the nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring include pyridine, Examples include nitrogen-containing heterocycles such as pyrimidine, pyrrole, pyrazole, triazole, thiazole, and oxazole. Examples of the condensed ring include condensed rings such as benzthiazole, benzimidazole, pyrazolotriazole, indole, imidazolotriazole, quinoline, and isoquinoline.

Among the compounds represented by the general formula [I], a compound represented by the general formula [II] is more preferable.

[0023]

Embedded image [Wherein, A, B and Z have the same meaning as defined in formula [I], and Y represents a nitrogen atom or a sulfur atom. The compound represented by the general formula [I] (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the compound of the present invention) used in the present invention is, for example, a compound represented by the following general formula [III], which is described in Chemical Reviews, Vol.
75, 241 (1975), and can be produced according to a known coupling reaction with a compound represented by the following general formula [IV].

[0024]

Embedded image Hereinafter, typical exemplary compounds of the compound of the present invention are shown, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0025]

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[0026]

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[0027]

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[0028]

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[0029]

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[0030]

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[0031]

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[0032]

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[0033]

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[0034]

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[0035]

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[0036]

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[0037]

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[0038]

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[0039]

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[0040]

Embedded image In the present invention, a heat-sensitive layer (ink layer) is formed by applying and drying a coating solution (ink) obtained by dissolving or dispersing at least one compound of the present invention together with a binder in a solvent or in the form of fine particles on a support. Can be provided.
The thickness of the heat-sensitive layer is preferably from 0.1 μm to 5 μm in dry film thickness.

The content of the compound of the present invention is per 1 m ² of the support.
0.1 g-20 g is preferred.

The heat-sensitive layer of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material of the present invention is superimposed on the image-receiving layer surface of the image-receiving material, and heat is applied from the back surface of the support of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material in accordance with the image information, whereby the heat-sensitive image is obtained. The dye diffuses into the image, where it is fixed and a dye image can be obtained.

The binder used in the present invention includes:
Cellulose-based, polyacrylic acid-based, polyvinyl alcohol-based, polyvinylpyrrolidone-based water-soluble polymers,
Examples include polymers soluble in organic solvents such as acrylic resins, methacrylic resins, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl acetal, ethyl cellulose, and nitrocellulose. When a polymer soluble in an organic solvent is used, one or more of the polymers may be used in the form of a latex dispersion as well as being dissolved in an organic solvent.

The amount of the binder used is preferably 0.1 g to 50 g per 1 m ² of the support.

The support used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it has good dimensional stability and can withstand the heat at the time of recording with a thermal head. Examples of the support include thin paper such as condenser paper and glassine paper. A heat-resistant plastic film such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, and polycarbonate can be used.

The thickness of the support is preferably from 2 to 30 μm, and the support may be provided with an undercoat layer for the purpose of improving the adhesiveness with a binder and preventing the transfer and dyeing of the dye to the support. good.

Further, a slipping layer may be provided on the back surface of the support (the side opposite to the heat-sensitive layer) for the purpose of preventing the head from sticking to the support.

In the present invention, the heat-sensitive layer (ink layer) can be provided by being coated on a support or by being printed on the support by a printing method such as a gravure method. The thickness of the heat-sensitive layer is preferably from 0.1 to 5 μm in dry film thickness.

Solvents for preparing the coating solution for the heat-sensitive layer include water, alcohols (eg, ethanol and propanol), cellosolves (eg, methyl cellosolve), esters (eg, ethyl acetate), and aromatics (eg, toluene, Xylene, chlorobenzene), ketones (eg, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, cyclohexanone), ethers (eg, tetrahydrofuran, dioxane),
Chlorine solvents (eg, chloroform, trichloroethylene) and the like can be mentioned.

The heat-sensitive transfer recording material of the present invention basically has a structure in which a heat-sensitive layer (ink layer) comprising the compound of the present invention and a binder is provided on a support. It may have a heat-fusible layer containing a heat-fusible compound as described in JP-A-59-106997.

The heat-meltable compound is 65-130 ° C.
Colorless or white compounds having a melting point of, for example, carnauba wax, beeswax, waxes such as candelylax, stearic acid, higher fatty acids such as behenic acid, alcohols such as xylitol, acetamide,
Examples include amides such as benzamide, and ureas such as phenylurea and diethylurea.

These heat-fusible layers may contain polymers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinylbutyral, and saturated polyester in order to enhance the retention of the dye.

When the thermal transfer recording material of the present invention is applied to full-color image recording, as shown in FIG.
A magenta ink layer (M) containing the magenta dye represented by the general formula [I], a cyan ink layer (C) containing a heat-diffusible cyan dye, and a heat-diffusible yellow dye on the support 1 It is preferable that three layers of the yellow ink layer (Y) are sequentially and repeatedly applied. If necessary, an ink layer containing a black image forming substance may be further applied in addition to the yellow, magenta, and cyan layers, and a total of four layers may be sequentially and repeatedly applied.

In the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, after the heat-sensitive layer of the thermal transfer recording material and the image receiving material are overlaid, heat corresponding to the image information is applied to the thermal transfer recording material to react with the dye. An image is formed on a recording material by a chelate dye formed by a reaction between a compound that supplies metal ions (hereinafter, referred to as a metal source) and a dye in the heat-sensitive layer.

In this case, since the magenta dye represented by the general formula [I] is used as the dye in the present invention, a magenta image which is rich in light fastness and fixability, has high density and is preferable in color reproduction can be efficiently obtained. I can do it. The metal source may be present in the image receiving material, or may be present in a heat-meltable layer provided on the surface of the heat-sensitive layer.

The thermal transfer recording method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, when the metal source is present in the support 1 and the image receiving layer 2, the dye in the heat-sensitive transfer recording material 6 comprising the support 4 and the heat-sensitive layer 5 is For example, the heat diffuses into the image receiving material 3 by heat from the heat generating resistor 8 of the thermal head 7 and reacts with the metal source in the image receiving layer 2 to form a chelate dye.

In FIG. 3, when the metal source is present in the heat-meltable layer 9 provided on the surface of the heat-sensitive layer 5, the support 4 comprises the heat-sensitive layer 5 and the heat-meltable layer 9. The dye in the heat-sensitive layer 5 of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material 10 is diffused and transferred to the heat-meltable layer 9 by, for example, heat from the heating resistor 8 of the heat-sensitive head 7, where it reacts with the metal source to form a chelate dye. Then, a part or all of the heat-meltable layer 9a containing the chelate dye undergoes cohesive failure or interfacial separation, and migrates to the image receiving material 11 side.

Examples of the metal ions constituting the metal source include ions of divalent and polyvalent metals belonging to Groups I to VIII of the periodic table. Among them, Al, Co,
The ions of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sn, Ti and Zn are preferred, and the ions of Ni, Cu, Co, Cr and Zn are particularly preferred.

As a compound (metal source) for supplying these metal ions, an inorganic or organic salt of the metal and a complex of the metal are preferable.

More specifically, Ni ²⁺ , Cu ²⁺ , Co ²⁺ , Cr ²⁺
And a complex containing Zn ²⁺ and represented by the following general formula can be preferably used.

[M (Q ₁ ) _l (Q ₂ ) _m (Q ₃ ) _n ] ^{p +} (L ⁻ ) _{p In the} formula, M represents a metal ion, and Q ₁ , Q ₂ and Q ₃ are each represented by M. A coordination compound capable of coordinating with a metal ion. These coordination compounds can be selected, for example, from the coordination compounds described in Chelate Chemistry (5) (Nankodo). Particularly preferred are ethylenediamine and its derivatives, glycinamide and its derivatives, picolinamide and its derivatives, and the like. L is an anion capable of forming a complex with counter anion, Cl ^-, S
Examples include inorganic compound anions such as O ₄ ⁻ and ClO ₄ ⁻ and organic compound anions such as benzenesulfonic acid derivatives and alkylsulfonic acid derivatives, and particularly preferred are tetraphenylboron anions and derivatives thereof. l is 1,
M represents 1, 2 or 0, and n represents 1
Or 0, which is determined depending on whether the complex represented by the above general formula is tetradentate or hexadentate, or depending on the number of ligands of Q ₁ , Q ₂ and Q ₃ It is determined.
p represents 1, 2 or 3.

The metal source is usually added to the image-receiving material, preferably to the image-receiving layer of the image-receiving material or the above-mentioned heat-meltable layer. -20 g / m ² , preferably 1-10 g / m ²
Is more preferred.

The image-receiving material used in the present invention is generally used as an image-receiving layer on a support such as paper, plastic film, or paper-plastic film composite as a polyester resin, polyvinyl chloride resin, vinyl chloride and other materials. A copolymer resin with a monomer (eg, vinyl acetate, etc.),
It is formed by forming one or more polymer layers such as polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl pyrrolidone and polyvinyl carbonate.

The support itself may be used as an image receiving material.

According to the thermal transfer recording material and the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, since the magenta dye used has thermal diffusivity and good chelation reactivity, an image having high density and excellent image stability can be obtained. In addition, it is possible to obtain an image having a preferable hue in color reproduction.

[0067]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Example-1 <Preparation of Coating Solution for Ink Layer (Thermal Sensitive Layer)> From the mixture having the following composition, a coating solution of a uniform solution containing the heat diffusing dye used in the present invention was prepared.

Magenta dye (Exemplified Compound No. 1) 10 g Nitrocellulose resin 20 g Methyl ethyl ketone 400 ml <Preparation of thermal transfer recording material> The above coating solution was coated to a thickness of 4.5 μm.
On a support made of polyethylene terephthalate film having a coating weight of 1.0 g / m ² after drying with a wire bar.
And dried to form a heat-sensitive layer, thereby producing a heat-sensitive transfer recording material-1 of the present invention.

On the back surface of the polyethylene terephthalate film, a nitrocellulose layer containing a silicon-modified urethane resin (SP-2105, manufactured by Dainichi Seika) is provided as a slipping layer.

In the preparation of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material-1, a heat-sensitive transfer recording material was prepared in the same manner except that the dye shown in Table 1 was used in place of Exemplified Compound No. 1 as a magenta dye.
2 to 8 and comparative thermal transfer recording materials 1 'to 2' were prepared. However, in the preparation of the comparative thermal transfer recording material, the amount of methyl ethyl ketone used was doubled because the solubility of the dye in the solvent was low.

<Preparation of Image Receiving Material> In a paper support laminated on both sides with polyethylene, a polyethylene layer on one side of the paper support [appropriate amount of white pigment (TiO ₂ ), bluing agent and the following metal source (application amount 5 g / m ² )] And a vinyl chloride resin as an image receiving layer was applied so as to have a coating weight of 10 g / m ² to prepare an image receiving material. This image receiving layer further contains 0.15 g / m ^{2 of} silicone oil.

[0073] Metal source _{[Ni (NH 2 COCH 2 CH} 2 NHC 3 H 7) 3] 2+ [(C 6 H 5) 4 B -] 2 < -sensitive transfer recording method> The resulting heat-sensitive transfer recording material and the image receiving The material was overlapped such that the heat-sensitive layer surface of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material faced the image-receiving layer surface of the image-receiving material, and an image was recorded under the following recording conditions by applying a heat-sensitive head from the back surface of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material. The maximum reflection density (Dmax) of the obtained image, the chelating reactivity of the dye, the hue of the image and the fixability were evaluated in the following manner. Table 1 shows the results.

Recording conditions Main scanning and sub-scanning linear density 8 dots / mm Recording power 0.6 W / dot Thermal head heating time 20 msec (applied energy about 11.2 × 10 ⁻³ J) to 2 msec
The heating time is adjusted stepwise between (applied energy of about 1.12 × 10 ^-3 J).

Evaluation method Evaluation of fixability: surface of image-receiving layer of obtained image, thickness 180
5 μm thick on polyethylene terephthalate film
The coated surface of the transfer sheet provided with a μm nitrocellulose layer was overlapped, heated at 140 ° C. for 1 minute, and the degree of transfer of the dye from the image receiving layer to the surface of the nitrocellulose layer was visually evaluated according to the following criteria. . However, the smaller the retransfer, the better the fixability. …: Retransfer is hardly recognized. Δ: Retransfer is observed. X: retransfer is remarkable.

Light fastness: Light fastness was indicated by the residual ratio (%) of the dye after irradiation with a xenon fade meter for 3 days.

Maximum reflection density (Dmax): The maximum reflection density was measured using an optical densitometer (PCA-65, Konica Corporation).

Hue: Hue was evaluated according to the following criteria. …: Good as a magenta dye. Δ: Absorption of poor, non-chelating dye is larger than absorption of chelating dye.

[0079]

[Table 1]

[0080]

Embedded image As is clear from Table 1, the heat-sensitive transfer recording material of the present invention can obtain a magenta image having a higher density and better absorption characteristics and image storability (light fastness, fixability) than any of the comparative materials. Was.

Example 2 As shown in FIG. 1, a yellow ink layer, a magenta ink layer and a cyan ink layer were sequentially coated on the support used in Example 1 to obtain a heat-sensitive transfer recording material-9. Created. In addition,
The magenta ink layer is the thermal transfer recording material-1 of Example-1.
And the configurations of the yellow ink layer and the cyan ink layer are as follows.

<Yellow ink layer> Yellow dye: The following structure weight: 0.6 g / m ² Binder: polyvinyl butyral Weight: 0.9 g / m ² <Cyan ink layer> Cyan dye: The following structure weight: 0.6 g / m ² binder: with nitrocellulose amount = 0.9 g / m ²

[0083]

Embedded image When a full-color image was formed by a video printer (manufactured by Nikon, CP-3000D) using the thermal transfer recording material-9, a full-color image showing good color reproducibility was obtained.
Further, the obtained image had good image storability (light fastness). That is, by using the heat-sensitive transfer recording material of the present invention, a full-color image having good gradation and color reproducibility and excellent image stability could be obtained. However, the same image receiving material as that used in Example 1 was used.

Example 3 An aqueous solution containing 5 g of a ball mill dispersion of p-toluamide, 7 g of polyvinylpyrrolidone, 3 g of gelatin and 0.3 g of the following hardener as an intermediate layer on the thermal transfer recording material of Example 2
100 ml was applied so that the amount of p-toluamide was 0.5 g / m ² .

Further, on the intermediate layer, as a heat-meltable layer, the following UV-ray inhibitor (weight 0.1 g / m ² ),
0.1 g / m ² ) and carnauba wax (0.2 g / m ² ) containing ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (vinyl acetate content 20% by weight-0.2 g / m ² ) by hot melt coating. Thus, a thermal transfer recording material-10 having a heat-fusible layer was obtained.

Using the resulting thermal transfer recording material-10 and the image receiving material, full-color image recording was performed using a video printer in the same manner as in Example-2. The image receiving material was white plain paper. The resulting image has color reproducibility, stability,
Both were good. That is, it was found that the use of the thermal transfer recording material having the constitution shown in Example 3 using the compound of the present invention can provide excellent full-color image recording even on plain paper.

[0087]

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[0088]

As described in detail above, the present invention has provided a thermal transfer recording material having improved storage stability, fixability and hue. Further, according to the present invention, it was possible to provide a thermal transfer recording method capable of efficiently obtaining an image having high density and favorable color reproduction by using the thermal transfer recording material.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example showing a structural cross-sectional view of a thermal transfer recording material of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a thermal transfer recording method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a thermal transfer recording method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Y Yellow ink layer M Magenta ink layer C Cyan ink layer 1,4 Support 2 Image receiving layer 3,11 Image receiving material 5 Thermal layer 6,10 Thermal transfer recording material 7 Thermal head 8 Heating resistor 9 Thermal melting layer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-91990 (JP, A) JP-A-4-94974 (JP, A) JP-A-59-78893 (JP, A) 89343 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41M 5/38 CAPLUS (STN) REGISTRY (STN)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least a compound represented by the following general formula [I] is provided on a support.
A heat-sensitive transfer recording material having a heat-sensitive layer containing a compound represented by the formula: Embedded image [In the formula, A and B each represent a substituent bonded to an imidazole ring at a carbon atom, a nitrogen atom, an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom, and Z is necessary for forming a 5- or 6-membered ring together with the carbon atom and the nitrogen atom. And may have a 5- or 6-membered condensed ring. ] 2. An image receiving material is superimposed on a heat-sensitive transfer recording material having a heat-sensitive layer containing a compound represented by the following general formula [I] on a support. Wherein an image is formed on an image receiving material by a chelate dye formed by a reaction between the compound and a compound supplying a metal ion. Embedded image [In the formula, A and B each represent a substituent bonded to an imidazole ring at a carbon atom, a nitrogen atom, an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom, and Z is necessary for forming a 5- or 6-membered ring together with the carbon atom and the nitrogen atom. And may have a 5- or 6-membered condensed ring. ]