Phototransformations of acrylamide derivatives of piperazine-substituted polyfluorinated chalcones

•Acrylamide derivatives of the piperazino-substituted polyfluorochalcones (APPFC) form molecular glass films.•APPFC in films show two types of photochemical reactions: free-radical polymerization of acrylic fragments and cyclodimerization•The competitive reaction of intra- and intermolecular photocyclization of APPFC was observed.•The product of the intramolecular photocyclization PFCh-2 with absorption at λmax = 550 nm is considered as flavilium cationic form.•The photochemical transformation directions and masking properties of APPFC strongly depends on the position of the substitutes.