Patent ID: 8394481

Claim:
An optical information recording medium comprising a substrate having a surface with pregrooves with a track pitch of 50 to 500 nm and a recording layer on the surface of the substrate on which information is recorded by irradiation with a laser light having a wavelength of 440 nm or less, wherein the recording layer comprises at least one azo-metal complex dye derived from a metal ion and a compound represented by the following general formula (1-1) or (1-2): wherein Q represents a carbocyclic group or a heterocyclic group, and R 6 to R 8 independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, the compound represented by the general formula (1-1) or (1-2) has a dissociative hydrogen atom in Q, and a residue provided by eliminating the dissociative hydrogen atom in Q and the hydrogen atom in the —NH—group marked with asterisk * from the compound represented by the general formula (1-1) or (1-2) is bonded to the metal ion to generate the azo-metal complex dye, and the azo-metal complex dye may contain a component other than the metal ion and the compound represented by the general formula (1-1) or (1-2); wherein the azo-metal complex dye is represented by the following general formula (A): (L 2− ) n (L′) m (M) r .(X p+ ) k′ wherein L 2− represents a divalent azo dye anion provided by eliminating two hydrogen atoms from the compound represented by the following general formula (1-1) or (1-2): in which Q represents a carbocyclic group or a heterocyclic group, and R 6 to R 8 independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, L′ represents a ligand, M represents a metal ion or a metal oxide ion, n represents an integer of 1 to 4, m represents an integer of 0 to 3, r represents 1 or 2, X p+ represents a p-valent cation, p represents an integer of 1 to 10, and k′ represents a value within the range of 0<k′≦4 obtained by dividing the total negative charge of (L 2− ) n (L′) m (M) r by p.