Unraveling the Photoswitching Mechanism in Donor–Acceptor Stenhouse Adducts

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• 作者：Michael M. Lerch ; Sander J. Wezenberg ; Wiktor Szymanski ; Ben L. Feringa
• 刊名：Journal of the American Chemical Society
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：May 25, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：138
• 期：20
• 页码：6344-6347
• 全文大小：323K
• 年卷期：0
• ISSN：1520-5126

文摘

Molecular photoswitches have opened up a myriad of opportunities in applications ranging from responsive materials and control of biological function to molecular logics. Here, we show that the photoswitching mechanism of donor–acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASA), a recently reported class of photoswitches, proceeds by photoinduced Z–E isomerization, followed by a thermal, conrotatory 4π-electrocyclization. The photogenerated intermediate is manifested by a bathochromically shifted band in the visible absorption spectrum of the DASA. The identification of the role of this intermediate reveals a key step in the photoswitching mechanism that is essential to the rational design of switching properties via structural modification.