Novel Bisthienylethene Containing Ferrocenyl‐Substituted Naphthalimide: A Photo‐ and Redox Multi‐Addressable Molecular Switch |
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| Authors: | Prof. Dr. Weihong Zhu Liwen Song Yuheng Yang Prof. Dr. He Tian |
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| Affiliation: | Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials, Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Institute of Fine Chemicals, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237 (P.R. China), Fax: (+86) 21‐6425‐2758 |
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| Abstract: | A new photochromic bisthienylethene system (BTE? NAFc) is reported in which the ferrocene unit (Fc) is incorporated into a naphthalimide chromophore as the central ethene bridging unit. The incorporated Fc unit in the photochromic system of BTE? NAFc has several effects on optical properties, such as fluorescence‐modulation through photoinduced electron transfer (PET), a decrease in the photochromic cyclization quantum yield, and a selective two‐step oxidation process. The ability to drive ring‐opening and ring‐closing reactions with a secondary redox‐modulation provides increased functionality to the photochromic system. Based on these meaningful photo‐ and redox‐modulation properties, five unprecedented multi‐addressable states (BTE? NAFc, BTE? NAFc+, c‐BTE? NAFc, c‐BTE? NAFc+, and BTE+? NAFc+) and gated photochromism are successfully obtained within the unimolecular BTE platform, thus providing deeper insight into photochromic systems as multifunctional outputs. |
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| Keywords: | bisthienylethene fluorescence molecular switches photochromism redox chemistry |
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