A SIMPLE,EFFICIENT AND NEW METHOD FOR PREPARING AZO UREAS

Azo compounds are widely utilized as dyes and analytical reagents.They can also be used as materials for non-linear optics and for storage optical information in laser dish^[1]. Recently, many noteworthy studies have shown that azobenzene derivatives possess excellent optical memory and photoelectric properties^[2]. The preparation of ordinary azo compounds has been described in many references. However, those compounds generally bear alkyl or aryl groups on both sides of the azo linkage (-N=N-).     

Photochromic bisthienylethene as multi-function switches

Bisthienylethenes (BTEs) are one of the most promising families of photochromic compounds because of their fatigue resistance and thermally irreversible properties for use in optoelectronic devices such as ultrahigh-density optical data storage, molecular switches, logic gates, molecular wires, sensors, and so on. This article describes recent development of switchable photochromic bisthienylethene materials, especially multi-switchable bisthienylethene materials including multi-color photochromic materials, multi-switchable organogelators and liquid crystals. We also highlight our recent contributions in this field.     

Optical switching and alignment of antiferroelectric liquid crystals containing an azo group

The optical properties of two kinds of photochromic antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) containing an azo group have been examined. Depending on the substituting group at the chiral centre, these AFLCs showed different photoinduced phase transitions by Ar⁺ laser light irradiation. This phase transition has led to a new form of optical switching controlled by a bias voltage. In addition, it was found that these AFLCs caused an azimuthal photoalignment effect regulated by linearly polarized Ar⁺ laser light irradiation. These phenomena were applied to image storage.     

1,2-二芳基乙烯分子无损读取研究

1,2-二芳基乙烯类光致变色分子具有优良的热稳定性和耐疲劳性.它们作为新一代的光存储材料以及分子器件中光电微观性质控制的分子开关,引起了人们的重视.本文介绍了1,2-二芳基乙烯类光致变色分子的合成方法和光致变色性质,重点综述了这类分子在无损读取光存储材料方面的研究进展.     

磺酸功能化的离子液体型多金属氧酸盐的光色性能

发现磺酸功能化离子液体型多金属氧酸盐(IL-POM)具有可逆光色性质,并在紫外光激发下,详细考察了[PyPS]_nH_3-nPW₁₂(n=1,3)(PyPs:吡啶丙磺酸盐)、[PyPS]₄SiW₁₂、[TEAPS]₃PW₁₂(TEAPS:3-(三乙胺基)丙磺酸盐)等样品的光致变色行为。 结果表明,磺酸化的IL-POM是一类弱的电荷转移多金属氧酸盐,但在紫外光激发下有机阳离子和POM阴离子间可以发生电子相互作用,实现W⁶⁺→W⁵⁺的还原,并形成稳定的电荷转移复合物,导致样品显色。 钨磷酸盐的光色性大大强于钨硅酸盐,且空气中避光放置可以消色。 但样品容易疲劳,着色-褪色重复性不好。 对光色机理的研究显示,有机阳离子中的-SO₃H基团作为电子供体参与了变色过程。 揭示了磺酸基团的电子供体作用,为设计电荷转移多金属氧酸盐和POM基光色材料提供了新的思路。     

Visible light activated BINOL-derived chiroptical switches based on boron integrated hydrazone complexes

Chiral optical switches, which use light to control chirality in a reversible manner, offer unique properties and fascinating prospects in the areas of molecular switching and responsive systems, new photochromic materials and molecular data processing and storage. Herein, we report visible light responsive chiroptical switches based on tetrahedral boron coordination towards an easily accessible hydrazone ligand and optically pure BINOL. Upon instalment of a non-planar dibenzo[a,d]-cycloheptene moiety in the hydrazone ligand''s lower half, the enantiopure boron complex shows major chiroptical changes in the CD read-out after visible light irradiation. The thermal isomerization barrier in these chiroptical switching systems showed to be easily adjustable by the introduction of substituents onto the olefinic bond of the cycloheptene ring, giving profound control over their thermal stability. The control over their thermal stability in combination with excellent reversibility, photochemical properties and overall robustness of the complexes makes these BINOL-derived chiroptical switches attractive candidates for usage in advanced applications, e.g. photonic materials and nanotechnology.

Chiroptical switches, which use light to control chirality in a reversible manner, offer unique properties and fascinating prospects in the areas of molecular responsive systems, new photochromic materials and molecular data processing and storage.     

Recent developments in the field of metal complexes containing photochromic ligands: Modulation of linear and nonlinear optical properties

Organic photochromic molecules are important for the design of photoresponsive functional materials, as switches and memories. Over the past 10 years, research efforts have been directed towards the incorporation of photoresponsive molecules into metal systems, in order either to modulate the photochromic properties, or to photoregulate the redox, optical and magnetic properties of the organometallic moieties. This review article focuses on some of the recent work reported within the last few years in the area of organometallic and coordination complexes containing photochromic ligands for the photoregulation of optical and nonlinear optical properties. The first part is related to photochromic 1,2-diarylethene (DAE)-containing metal complexes, examples of mono- and multi-DAE metal-based will be discussed. The second part deals with metal complexes incorporating spiropyran and spirooxazine derivatives.     

Photochromic organic-inorganic hybrid materials

Photochromic organic-inorganic hybrid materials have attracted considerable attention owing to their potential application in photoactive devices, such as optical memories, windows, photochromic decorations, optical switches, filters or non-linear optics materials. The growing interest in this field has largely expanded the use of photochromic materials for the purpose of improving existing materials and exploring new photochromic hybrid systems. This tutorial review summarizes the design and preparation of photochromic hybrid materials, and particularly those based on the incorporation of organic molecules in organic-inorganic matrices by the sol-gel method. This is the most commonly used method for the preparation of these materials as it allows vitreous hybrid materials to be obtained at low temperatures, and controls the interaction between the organic molecule and its embedding matrix, and hence allows tailoring of the performance of the resulting devices.     

Two ferroelectric phases of a columnar dibenzopyrene

The ferroelectric switching of columnar 1,2,5,6,8,9,12,13-octakis-((S)-2-heptyloxy-propanoyloxy)dibenzo[e,l]pyr-2-heptyloxy-propanoyloxy)dibenzo[e,1]pyrene was studied in detail between 60°C and the clearing point 115°C. The switching angle (optical tilt angle) is ±24.5° up to 10V μm^-1 and ±37° at higher field strengths. The electric polarization is 60nC cm^-2 in the low field phase and 180nC cm^-2 in the high field phase. The switching rate has apparent activation energies that increase with voltage from 3 × 10^-19 to 10^-18 J. It varies roughly with a power of the voltage, the exponent increasing with decreasing temperature from 2 to 5. At equal voltages, switching is faster in the low field than in the high field phase. We tentatively infer the structures of the two columnar lattices from the ratio of polarizations and other data. From the switching angles, we calculate a tilt angle of 44° for the aromatic cores of the disc-like molecules stacked in the columns. Finally, we point out possible advantages of ferroelectric columnar liquid crystals over their smectic counterparts in electro-optical displays.     

Control of the Structure and Functions of Biomaterials by Light

Vision and other light-triggered biochemical transformations in plants and living organisms represent a sophisticated biological processes in which optical signals are recorded and transduced as (physico)chemical events. Photoswitchable biomaterials are a new class of substances in which optical signals generate discrete “On” and “Off” states of biological functions, resembling logic gates that flip between 0 and 1 states in response to the changes in electric currents in computers. The (photo)chemistry of photochromic materials has been extensively developed in the past four decades. These materials isomerize reversibly upon light absorption, and the discrete photoisomeric states exhibit distinct spectral and chemical features. Integration of photoisomerizable (or photochromic) units into biomaterials allow their secondary functions such as biocatalysis, binding, and electron transfer to be tailored so that they can be switched on or off. This can be accomplished by chemical modification of the biomaterial by photoisomerizable units and by integration of biomaterials in photoisomerizable microenvironments such as monolayers or polymers. The photoswitchable properties of chemically modified biomaterials originate from the light-induced generation or perturbation of the biologically active site, whereas in photoisomerizable matrices they depend upon the regulation of the physical or chemical features of the photoisomerizable assemblies of polymers, monolayers, or membranes. Light-triggered activation of catalytic biomaterials provides a means of amplifying the recorded optical signal by biochemical transformations, and photostimulated biochemical redox switches allow its electrochemical transduction and amplification. The field of photoswitches based on biomaterials has developed extensively in the past few years within the general context of molecular switching devices and micromachinery. The extensive knowledge on the manipulation of biomaterials through genetic engineering and the fabrication of surfaces modified by biologically active materials enables us to prepare biomaterials with improved optical-switching features. Their application in optoelectronic or bioelectronic devices has been transformed from fantasy to reality. The use of photoswitchable biomaterials in information storage and processing devices (biocomputers), sensors, reversible immunosensors, and biological amplifiers of optical signals has already been demonstrated, but still leaves important future challenges.     

多功能二噻吩乙烯光致变色光分子开关材料

光致变色材料是一类在不同波长的光交替照射下,产生两种可进行可逆转换的光致异构体并伴随明显的光物理和光化学性能变化的材料。基于其特殊的光致异构性质,人们已开发出多种光致变色功能材料并将其广泛应用于超高密度光信息存储、分子开关、分子逻辑门、分子导线、光电材料、多光子器件、表面/纳米器件、液晶材料、化学传感、生物成像、自组装、聚集诱导发光、光控生物体系等诸多领域。其中,二噻吩乙烯类化合物因其出色的热稳定性、优良的耐疲劳性、快的响应速率、高的转化率和量子产率以及出色的固相反应活性而成为理想的光致变色材料之一。本文主要围绕近期本研究组研究成果着重介绍近几年二噻吩乙烯类化合物从溶液体系到功能化表面体系的研究进展,探讨当前该领域存在的问题并对其前景和发展方向进行展望。     

Determination of Proteins at Nanogram Levels by Enhanced Rayleigh Light Scattering Technique with Tetra-Substituted Sulphonated Aluminum Phthalocyanine

In recent years, Rayleigh light scattering has become a new tool for determining the content of biological molecules and studying the interaction mechanism of organic dyes with biological molecules^[1]. According to the macroscopic fluctuation theory, in a transparent isotropic medium, when the light scattering is caused by molecular particles 20-fold smaller than the wavelength of the incident beam, the Rayleigh scattering law is obeyed, namely I∝1/λ^4[2]. However, if the wavelength of the incident beam is close to that of the absorption band of the molecular particles which exist as aggregates, Rayleigh scattering will deviate from the law and enhanced RLS can be expected^[3]. Using this technique, a method for the determination of proteins in aqueous solution has been developed based on the enhancement effect of proteins on die Rayleigh light scattering (RLS) of organic dyes^[4].     

偶氮型液晶高分子的研究及应用

偶氮液晶高分子由于其具有特殊的光致异构和光致变色等光学性质,在光信息贮存材料、光开关材料和非线性光学设备材料等领域具有巨大的应用潜力,近年来得到了国内外研究者的广泛关注。本文概述了偶氮型液晶高分子的结构特征,详细介绍了主链型偶氮液晶高分子、侧链型偶氮液晶高分子、树枝状偶氮液晶高分子以及星型偶氮液晶高分子的研究现状及在光储存、光开关及光调制偏振片等方面的应用进展,指出了存在的问题和研究方向。     

光致变色聚合物研究进展

本文主要介绍了9类光致变色聚合物的研究状况,包括光致变色螺吡喃聚合物、螺嗪聚合物、二芳基乙烯光致变色聚合物、偶氮苯类光致变色聚合物、苯氧基萘并萘醌光致变色聚合物、俘精酰亚胺光致变色共聚物、硫靛光致变色共聚物、双硫腙光致变色聚合物以及二氢吲嗪光致变色聚合物等。讨论了聚合物的合成、光致变色性质、影响聚合物性质的因素,并对光致变色聚合物未来的研究重点和方向作了展望。     

An Electrically Driven and Readable Molecular Monolayer Switch Based on a Solid Electrolyte

The potential application of molecular switches as active elements in information storage has been demonstrated through numerous works. Importantly, such switching capabilities have also been reported for self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs). SAMs of electroactive molecules have recently been exploited as electrochemical switches. Typically, the state of these switches could be read out through their optical and/or magnetic response. These output reading processes are difficult to integrate into devices, and furthermore, there is a need to use liquid environments for switching the redox‐active molecular systems. In this work, both of these challenges were overcome by using an ionic gel as the electrolyte medium, which led to an unprecedented solid‐state device based on a single molecular layer. Moreover, electrochemical impedance has been successfully exploited as the output of the system.     

基于电致酸/碱理论的手性光学切换体系

手性分子光学开关在光学储存、 光学通信以及三维立体显示等领域有着重要的应用价值. 但是目前的手性分子光学开关存在材料种类少、 光学可调性差、 稳定性差等缺点, 如何构筑出具有高光学可调性以及稳定性的手性光学切换体系依旧是一项严峻的挑战. 本工作基于电致酸/碱理论, 通过将手性联萘官能团引入到酸响应的罗丹明主体结构中, 设计并合成了一种新型的酸响应手性光学开关分子, 并将其与电致酸材料相结合, 成功实现了电场驱动的手性光学开关过程, 开发了一种新型的手性光学切换体系. 发现在合适的电场控制下, 其颜色、 荧光以及圆二色谱信号均能发生可逆的变化. 这种方法为构筑新型手性光学开关体系提供了一种新思路, 对手性光学开关材料的应用拓展具有重要的参考价值.     

Design and Synthesis of Calix[4] arene-Constrained Cyclopeptide

There have been great continuing interests in cyclic peptides in the past two decades. Apart from being useful tools for identifying the functional conformations of bioactive peptides, and guiding the rational design of peptidomimetic drugs, cyclic peptides serve as templates in the de novo design^[1] of artificial proteins and as models^[2] for the study of prepefence in protein secondary structure. They also play an important role in ion transport across biological membranes,^[3] and can self-assemble size-adjustable nanotubes.^[4] However, study on their molecular recognitions for ions^[5] and neutral molecules, especially for organic compounds,^[6,7] which are believed to be one of the most attractive properties, were hampered by their considerable large degree of the freedom of the cavities.     

Photochromic fluorescence switching from diarylethenes and its applications

The review describes the photochromic and fluorescent characteristics of various diarylethene (DAET) derivatives, and presents recent research into their applications. This comprises a discussion of the optical characteristics of some DAET-based molecules exhibiting red, green, or blue (RGB) colors or fluorescence. Molecular calculations of the optical properties of DAET interpret intriguing experimental observations and predict photochemical or photophysical properties. In particular, stabilization of HOMO in the BTFOn (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) increases the energy difference between the HOMO and the LUMO, which leads to the blue-shift of absorption and emission bands as the number of oxygen attached to sulfur (n) increases. Various devices and application studies have been designed as photon-mode systems based on photochemical control of the fluorescence energy. The photochromic DAET materials have shown promise as optical data storage, switching devices, and biological applications such as the development of biomaterial sensors, analysis of biological dynamics, and live cell imaging.     

Fibre-Optic pH Probe Based on the Use of An Immobilized Amino Fluoresecein Indicator

Optical sensors can offer advantages over electrochemical sensors with respect to reduced interferences and ease of use for remote sensing^[1]. The first fiber optic pH sensor was developed for in vivo measurements by Peterson et al^[2]. This sensor relates pH to the absorbance of the base from of an immobilized dye. Subsequently, a pH sensor based on the fluorescence of immobilized fluoreseinamine was reported. The sensor involves immobilizing the amino fluoresecein (AF) complex within a porous sol-gel-processed film. Sol-gel process has many advantages as a method of immobilization^[3]. At ambient temperature, it allows the fabrication of a tough, inert, porous glass material with a high surface area. Sol-gel technology provides a viable approach to prepare stable, optically transparent host matrices for the design of materials for sensor, optical, chromatographic^[4], and catalytic applications. Alternatively, organosilicon precursors of the general formula can be hydrolyzed and co-condensed with tetraethoxysilane to form an organic-inorganic hybrid. An aliquot of the resultant sol can be spin cast or dip coated on a planar substrate to form a thin film.     

Mesostructured materials for optical applications: from low-k dielectrics to sensors and lasers

Recent advances on the use of mesoporous and mesostructured materials for electronic and optical applications are reported. The focus is on materials which are processed by block-copolymer templating of silica under weakly acidic conditions and by employing dip- and spin-coating as well as soft lithographic methods to bring them into a well-defined macroscopic shape. Several chemical strategies allow the mesostructure architecture to be used for electronic/optical applications: Removal of the block-copolymers results in highly porous, mechanically and thermally robust materials which are promising candidates for low dielectric constant materials. Since the pores are easily accessible, these structures are also ideal hosts for optical sensors, when suitable are incorporated during synthesis. For example, a fast response optical pH sensor was implemented on this principle. As-synthesized mesostructured silica/block-copolymer composites, on the other hand, are excellently suited as host systems for laser dyes and photochromic molecules. Laser dyes like rhodamine 6G can be incorporated during synthesis in high concentrations with reduced dimerization. This leads to very-low-threshold laser materials which also show a good photostability of the occluded dye. In the case of photochromic molecules, the inorganic-organic nanoseparation enables a fast switching between the colorless and colored form of a spirooxazine molecule, attributed to a partitioning of the dye between the block-copolymer chains. The spectroscopic properties of these dye-doped nanocomposite materials suggest a silica/block-copolymer/dye co-assembly process, whereby the block-copolymers help to highly disperse the organic dye molecules.