Photomechanically Induced Magnetic Field Response by Controlling Molecular Orientation in 9‐Methylanthracene Microcrystals

A surfactant‐assisted seeded‐growth method is used to form single‐crystal platelets composed of 9‐methylanthracene with two different internal molecular orientations. The more stable form exhibits a photoinduced twisting, as observed previously for 9‐methylanthracene microribbons grown by the floating drop method. However, the newly discovered elongated hexagonal platelets undergo a photoinduced rolling‐up and unrolling. The ability of the rolled‐up cylindrical shape to trap superparamagnetic nanoparticles enables it to be carried along in a magnetic field gradient. The new photoinduced shape change, made possible by a novel surfactant‐assisted crystal growth method, opens up the possibility of using light to modulate the crystal translational motion.     

Isomerization mechanism of the HcRed fluorescent protein chromophore

To understand how the protein achieves fluorescence, the isomerization mechanism of the HcRed chromophore is studied both under vacuum and in the solvated red fluorescent protein. Quantum mechanical (QM) and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods are applied both for the ground and the first excited state. The photoinduced processes in the chromophore mainly involve torsions around the imidazolinone-bridge bond (τ) and the phenoxy-bridge bond (φ). Under vacuum, the isomerization of the cis-trans chromophore essentially proceeds by τ twisting, while the radiationless decay requires φ torsion. By contrast, the isomerization of the cis-trans chromophore in HcRed occurs via simultaneous τ and φ twisting. The protein environment significantly reduces the barrier of this hula twist motion compared with vacuum. The excited-state isomerization barrier via the φ rotation of the cis-coplanar conformer in HcRed is computed to be significantly higher than that of the trans-non-coplanar conformer. This is consistent with the experimental observation that the cis-coplanar-conformation of the chromophore is related to the fluorescent properties of HcRed, while the trans-non-planar conformation is weakly fluorescent or non-fluorescent. Our study shows how the protein modifies the isomerization mechanism, notably by interactions involving the nearby residue Ile197, which keeps the chromophore coplanar and blocks the twisting motion that leads to photoinduced radiationless decay.     

Photoinduced swing of a diarylethene thin broad sword shaped crystal: a study on the detailed mechanism

We report a swinging motion of photochromic thin broad sword shaped crystals upon continuous irradiation with UV light. By contrast in thick crystals, photosalient phenomena were observed. The bending and swinging mechanisms are in fact due to molecular size changes as well as phase transitions. The first slight bending away from the light source is due to photocyclization-induced surface expansion, and the second dramatic bending toward UV incidence is due to single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) phase transition from the original phase I to phase II_UV. Upon visible light irradiation, the crystal returned to phase I. A similar SCSC phase transition with a similar volume decrease occurred by lowering the temperature (phase III_temp). For both photoinduced and thermal SCSC phase transitions, the symmetry of the unit cell is lowered; in phase II_UV the twisting angle of disordered phenyl groups is different between two adjacent molecules, while in phase III_temp, the population of the phenyl rotamer is different between adjacent molecules. In the case of phase II_UV, we found thickness dependent photosalient phenomena. The thin broad sword shaped crystals with a 3 μm thickness showed no photosalient phenomena, whereas photoinduced SCSC phase transition occurred. In contrast, large crystals of several tens of μm thickness showed photosalient phenomena on the irradiated surface where SCSC phase transition occurred. The results indicated that the accumulated strain, between isomerized and non-isomerized layers, gave rise to the photosalient phenomenon.

We report a swinging motion of photochromic thin broad sword shaped crystals upon continuous irradiation with UV light.     

Photoinduced reversible change of fluid viscosity

We report a reversible photoinduced fluid viscosity change. A small amount of a "photoswitchable" azobenzene-modified cationic surfactant (4-butylazobenzene-4'-(oxyethyl)trimethylammonium bromide, AZTMA) was added to a wormlike micellar solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) containing sodium salicylate (NaSal). The trans-AZTMA solution had a remarkably high viscosity as a result of the entangled network of wormlike micelles. UV light irradiation on the trans-AZTMA solution remarkably decreased the viscosity of the solution because the bulky structure of cis-AZTMA is likely to disrupt the network structure of wormlike micelles. This photoinduced viscosity change is perfectly reversible between the trans- and cis-AZTMA solutions.     

Light-driven reversible handedness inversion in self-organized helical superstructures

We report here a fast-photon-mode reversible handedness inversion of a self-organized helical superstructure (i.e., a cholesteric liquid crystal phase) using photoisomerizable chiral cyclic dopants. The two light-driven cyclic azobenzenophanes with axial chirality show photochemically reversible trans to cis isomerization in solution without undergoing thermal or photoinduced racemization. As chiral inducing agents, they exhibit good solubility, high helical twisting power, and a large change in helical twisting power due to photoisomerization in three commercially available, structurally different achiral liquid crystal hosts. Therefore, we were able to reversibly tune the reflection colors from blue to near-IR by light irradiation from the induced helical superstructure. More interestingly, the different switching states of the two chiral cyclic dopants were found to be able to induce a helical superstructure of opposite handedness. In order to unambiguously determine the helical switching, we employed a new method that allowed us to directly determine the handedness of the long-pitched self-organized cholesteric phase.     

Preparation and characterization of hollow In2O3/Co3O4 heterostructured microribbons by electrospinning process

Long and thin hollow In₂O₃/Co₃O₄ heterostructured microribbons have been prepared by a combination method of electrospinning and sol–gel process. The as-prepared microribbons show the well-defined one-dimensional ribbon structure with 5–10 μm in width and tens of millimeters in length. The polycrystalline microribbons calcined at 700 °C for 2 h are still continuous and have the uniform cross section and the thickness to width ratio is around 1:10. It is very interesting that the microribbons present the hollow structure and these novel heterostructured ribbons can potentially be used in micro/nano electronic devices, gas-sensors and catalysts.     

A Visible‐Light‐Induced Dynamic Mechanical Bond as a Linkage for Dynamic Materials

Exploring dynamic bonds and their applications in fabricating dynamic materials has received great attention. A photoinduced [2]rotaxane‐based dynamic mechanical bond (DMB) features visible‐light‐triggered dynamic bonding behavior that is essentially distinguished from conventional dynamic chemical bonds. In this DMB, a photoisomerizable ortho‐fluoroazobenzene unit is introduced as a steric‐controllable stopper, the visible‐light‐induced dynamic wagging movement of which enables the photoregulated threading of the macrocycle. This allows reversible in situ de‐/reforming of the mechanical bond without involving dynamic chemical linkage. The DMB‐cross‐linked polymeric gel shows interesting photoinduced degradation behavior upon visible light irradiation. Benefiting from the distinctive dual dynamic nature of reversible bonding behavior and mechanical interlocked structure, this DMB is expected to serve as a new type of dynamic bond that can be applied in designing dynamic soft materials.     

Local concentration of gel phase domains in supported lipid bilayers under light irradiation in binary mixture of phospholipids doped with dyes for photoinduced activation

Recently, lipid bilayers supported on solid substrates are considered to offer potential as biological devices utilizing biological membranes and membrane proteins. In particular, artificially patterned supported bilayers hold great promise for the development of biological devices. In this study, we show control of the formation and location of phase-separated domain structures by light irradiation for gel phase and liquid-crystalline phase separation structures in a DMPC-DOPC binary lipid bilayer tagged with dye molecules on SiO2/Si substrates. Upon light irradiation, the gel phase domain structures disappeared from the phase-separated bilayers. This disappearance indicates that the light irradiation causes a local increase in the temperature of the lipid bilayer. In this disappearance phenomenon, the photoinduced activation of dye lipids, e.g. fluorescent lipids, is considered to play an important role, since the same phenomenon does not occur in lipid bilayers that have a low concentration of dye lipids. Thus, the local increase in temperature is propagated by light absorption of the dye lipid and subsequent photoinduced activation of nonradiative molecular vibrations. Subsequent interruption of the photoinduced activation for molecular motion allowed the gel phase domain structures to precipitate and grow again. Moreover, the domain area fraction remaining after the photoinduced activation was higher than that before the photoinduced activation. This result indicates that the local increase in temperature propagated by dye-excitation enhances formation of the gel phase domains. By utilizing this phenomenon, we could preferentially induce formation of domain structures within the light-irradiated regions. This technique could be the basis for a new patterning technique based on domain structures. Moreover, these domain structure patterns can be eliminated by increasing the temperature, allowing rewritable patterning.     

Photoinduced alignment of polymer liquid crystals containing azobenzene moieties in the side group VII. On He-Ne laser beam irradiation

Photoinduced alignment in a polymer liquid crystal prepared from 6-{1-[4-(2-cyano-4-nitrophenylazo)phenyl]piperazino}hexyl acrylate and 4'-[6-(methacryloyloxy)hexyloxy]-4-cyanobiphenyl was investigated for the first time on irradiation with a polarized He-Ne laser beam at 633 nm. The azobenzene moieties as well as the inert cyanobiphenyl mesogenic units were aligned with the molecular long axis perpendicular to the polarization direction of the irradiation light. Alignment induced on short irradiation was reversible, while that induced under prolonged irradiation was irreversible due to the occurrence of crosslinking which might be caused by photoinduced decomposition of the azobenzene moieties during the photoirradiation process.     

Mechanical Motion of Chiral Azobenzene Crystals with Twisting upon Photoirradiation

The photomechanical motion of chiral crystals of trans‐azobenzene derivatives with an (S)‐ and (R)‐phenylethylamide group was investigated and compared with a racemic crystal. Changes in the UV/Vis absorption spectra of the powdered crystals before and after UV irradiation were measured by using an optical waveguide spectrometer, showing that the lifetime of the cis‐to‐trans thermal back‐isomerization of the chiral crystals was faster than that of the racemic crystals. Upon UV irradiation, a long plate‐like chiral microcrystal bent away from the light source with a twisting motion. A square‐like chiral microcrystal curled toward the light with some twisting. Reversible bending of a rod‐like chiral microcrystal was repeatable over twenty‐five cycles. In contrast, bending of a plate‐like racemic microcrystal was small. A possible mechanism for the bending and twisting motion was discussed based on the optimized cis conformer determined by using calculations, showing that the bending motion with twisting is caused by elongation along the b axis and shrinkage along the a axis.     

Photoinduced amphiphilic property of InNbO4 thin film

An InNbO4 thin film was prepared by a sol-gel method. The photoinduced amphiphilic (hydrophilic and lipophilic) property on the film was determined from the changes in contact angles for water and diiodomethane (CH2I2) under light (lambda>300 nm) irradiation. Before light irradiation, the contact angles for water and diiodomethane were approximately 50 degrees and 40 degrees, respectively. Subsequently, light irradiation induced the contact angles to decrease. The critical contact angles for water and diiodomethane were approximately 0 degrees and 15 degrees, respectively, suggesting that this film possesses the photoinduced superhydrophilic and amphiphilic properties. This is the first report of a complex oxide with a photoinduced amphiphilicity. In the photoinduced amphiphilic conversion process, it was also found that both the total gas-solid surface free energy and the gas-solid surface free energy of the polar component increased.     

Photomodulation of the chiroptical properties of new chiral methacrylic polymers with side chain azobenzene moieties

We have investigated the photoinduced optical properties of a new class of chiral methacrylic polymers characterised by the presence in the side chain of an optically active pyrrolidinyl ring linked to a trans-azoaromatic system. The homopolymers are enantiomerically pure and their strong optical activity indicates that the macromolecules assume, both in solution and in solid thin films, highly homogeneous conformations with a prevailing chirality. As expected, the studied polymers exhibit reversible linear dichroism and birefringence when irradiated with linearly polarised light. By irradiating with circularly polarised light, we have discovered that it is possible to photomodulate the chiroptical properties of the polymer films. After irradiation with L-polarised light, the CD spectra of the films show a net inversion of their relative sign. The effect is reversible and the original shape of the CD spectra can be restored by pumping with R-polarised radiation. This unexpected new phenomenon can be explained in terms of the ability of the L-polarised radiation to invert the prevailing helicity of the polymeric chains. The observed effect seems to open new possibilities for the use of azobenzene-containing materials as chiroptical switches.     

Photo-RAFT Polymerization for Hydrogel Synthesis through Barriers and Development of Light-Regulated Healable Hydrogels under NIR Irradiation

We report an aqueous and near-infrared (NIR) light mediated photoinduced reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (photo-RAFT) polymerization system catalyzed by tetrasulfonated zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPcS₄⁻) in the presence of peroxides. Taking advantage of its fast polymerization rates and high oxygen tolerance, this system is successfully applied for the preparation of hydrogels. Exploiting the enhanced penetration of NIR light, photoinduced gelation is effectively performed through non-transparent biological barriers. Notably, the RAFT agents embedded in these hydrogel networks can be reactivated on-demand, enabling the hydrogel healing under NIR light irradiation. In contrast to the minimal healing capability (<15 %) of hydrogels prepared by free radical polymerization (FRP), RAFT-mediated networks display more than 80 % recovery of tensile strength. Although healable polymer networks under UV and blue lights have already been established, this work is the first photochemistry system using NIR light, facilitating photoinduced healing of hydrogels through thick non-transparent barriers.     

New types of multifunctional liquid crystalline photochromic copolymers for optical data recording and storage

A new family of multifunctional chiral‐photochromic liquid crystalline (LC) copolymers containing mesogenic, chiral and photoactive groups were synthesized. The new principles of photo‐regulation of the helical supramolecular structure and optical properties of the binary and ternary chiral‐photochromic LC polymers based on the change of helical twisting power of the chiral‐photochromic monomer units, the dual photochromism and photochemical spectral gap burning were developed. It was shown, that the introduction of small amount of low‐molar‐mass chiral‐photochromic dopants in chiral LC copolymers having different helix signs followed by light irradiation permits one to twist or untwist the helical supramolecular structure. The synthesized polymers are shown to be promising candidates for colour data recording and storage.     

侧链型偶氮聚合物液晶在不同波长激发条件下的光致取向

合成了聚甲基丙烯酸 (6 [4 (4 氰基偶氮苯 )苯氧基 ]己酯 ) (Poly(6 [4 (4 cyanophenylazo)phenoxy]hexylmethacrylate) (PM6ABCN) ) ,采用溶液挥发法在玻璃载片上成膜 ,研究了薄膜样品在Tg 温度以下的光致取向 .用波长分别为 36 6、40 0和 436nm的偏振光照射 ,发现PM6ABCN薄膜的光致取向过程不仅依赖于光的强度 ,还依赖所使用的偏振光的波长 .在低于Tg 的温度下 ,用波长为 40 0nm ,功率为 2 0mW cm2 的光照射 10 0s可以使样品的取向达到饱和 ,而用 36 6nm的光导致的取向程度要小于 40 0nm和 436nm的光 ,因为 36 6nm的光会在稳态时产生更多数目的cis异构体     

Shedding light on helical microtubules: real-time observations of microtubule self-assembly by light microscopy

Helical tubules are a fascinating and an intriguing class of self-assemblies. They occur frequently in biology and are believed to be intermediates in formation of gallstones. The pathway by which amphiphiles transform from an initial state of vesicles or micelles into such tubules has puzzled soft matter physicists, and it has raised important questions about the interplay between molecular chirality and self-assembly. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate direct, real-time observations by light microscopy of the pathway to helical microtubules from an initial solution of nanoscale vesicles. The tubules are formed in aqueous mixtures of the single-tailed diacetylenic surfactant, 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (PCDA), and a short-chain alcohol. The stepwise process involves nucleation of thin helical microribbons from the vesicle solution. These ribbons then thicken, rearrange, and fold into closed tubules. Subsequently, most tubules further rearrange into plate-like structures, and once again, we are able to visualize this process in real time. A notable aspect of the above system is that the precursors are achiral; yet, the tubules are formed from helical ribbons. Our study provides new insights into tubule formation that will be valuable in clarifying and refining theoretical models for these fascinating structures.     

Photochromic fulgimide-containing silicones immobilized on the surface of polyarylate

Photochromic coatings immobilized on the surface of polyarylate films are prepared on the basis of fulgimides, oligosiloxanes, and oligosilazanes. The irradiation of coatings with UV light at a wavelength of @380 nm and visible light at a wavelength above 500 nm results in photoinduced reversible transitions between open and colored cyclic forms. Photochromic polymer films with the most acceptable characteristics are obtained from fulgimide-containing oligoaminosiloxane and oligovinyldimethylsilazane. It is found that the photosensitivity of these films is higher than that of similar films based on 1,2-dihetarylethenes.     

Large Thermally Irreversible Photoinduced Shift of Selective Light Reflection in Hydrazone-Containing Cholesteric Polymer Systems

Stimuli responsive liquid crystalline polymers are a unique class of so-called “smart” materials demonstrating various types of mesomorphic structures easily controlled by external fields, including light. In the present work we synthesized and studied a comb-shaped hydrazone-containing copolyacrylate exhibited cholesteric liquid crystalline properties with the pitch length of the helix being tuned under irradiation with light. In the cholesteric phase selective light reflection in the near IR spectral range (1650 nm) was measured and a large blue shift of the reflection peak from 1650 nm to 500 nm was found under blue light (428 or 457 nm) irradiation. This shift is related to the Z-E isomerization of photochromic hydrazone-containing groups and it is photochemically reversible. The improved and faster photo-optical response was found after copolymer doping with 10 wt % of low-molar-mass liquid crystal. It is noteworthy that both, the E and Z isomers of hydrazone photochromic group are thermally stable that enable to achieve a pure photoinduced switch without any dark relaxation at any temperatures. The large photoinduced shift of the selective light reflection, together with thermal bistability, makes such systems promising for applications in photonics.     

The effect of the position of the methyl group on the helical twisting powers of aldol condensation products of methyl cyclohexanones

The four aldol condensation products of methylcyclohexanone isomers and 4-(4-hexyloxybenzoyloxy)benzaldehyde have been prepared. These chiral products were either obtained with high enantiomeric excess or the enantiomers were separated by means of chiral HPLC. In all cases only the E-isomer was obtained. UV irradiation was used to isomerize the E-isomers to the Z-isomers. Comparison of the helical twisting powers (HTP) of the E-isomers revealed that the derivative in which the methyl group is directly next to the double bond exhibits the highest value. Although the other three E-isomers have lower HTP values, they show large HTP changes and reversal of the helical twist sense upon irradiation. Of these compounds, the one derived from the commercially available (R)-3-methylcyclohexanone is an interesting candidate for use as an alternative to compounds derived from menthone for realizing photochemically induced twist changes in twisted nematic and cholesteric materials.     

Control of the Orientation and Photoinduced Phase Transitions of Macrocyclic Azobenzene

Photoinduced phase transitions caused by photochromic reactions bring about a change in the state of matter at constant temperature. Herein, we report the photoinduced phase transitions of crystals of a photoresponsive macrocyclic compound bearing two azobenzene groups ( 1 ) at room temperature on irradiation with UV (365 nm) and visible (436 nm) light. The trans/trans isomer undergoes photoinduced phase transitions (crystal–isotropic phase–crystal) on UV light irradiation. The photochemically generated crystal exhibited reversible phase transitions between the crystal and the mesophase on UV and visible light irradiation. The molecular order of the randomly oriented crystals could be increased by irradiating with linearly polarized visible light, and the value of the order parameter was determined to be ?0.84. Heating enhances the thermal cis‐to‐trans isomerization and subsequent cooling returned crystals of the trans/trans isomer.