Switching Diarylethenes Reliably in Both Directions with Visible Light.

Authors :: Fredrich S
Göstl R
Herder M
Grubert L
Hecht S
Source :: Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) [Angew Chem Int Ed Engl] 2016 Jan 18; Vol. 55 (3), pp. 1208-12. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Dec 10.
Publication Year :: 2016
Abstract: A diarylethene photoswitch was covalently connected to two small triplet sensitizer moieties in a conjugated and nonconjugated fashion and the photochromic performance of the resulting compounds was investigated. In comparison with the parent diarylethene (without sensitizers) and one featuring saturated linkages, the conjugated photoswitch offers superior fatigue resistance upon visible-light excitation due to effective triplet energy transfer from the biacetyl termini to the diarylethene core. Our design makes it possible to switch diarylethenes with visible light in both directions in a highly efficient and robust fashion based on extending π-conjugation and by-product-free ring-closure via the triplet manifold.<br /> (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)