Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Photochromism and Molecular Mechanical Devices

Photochromism and Molecular Mechanical Devices It is a dream for chemists to synthesize molecular systems, which can transform changes of molecular shape induced by external stimuli, such as chemicals, photons, and electrons (or holes), to macro-scale motion of the materials and perform mechanical work. To realize this dream we first prepared photoresponsive polyamides having azobenzene chromophores in the main chain. Although the polyamides changed conformation in solution upon photoinduced trans–cis isomerization, we failed to link the conformational change to macro-scale motion of polymer films and gels. During the course of study on photochromism of diarylethene single crystals we found that the surface morphology as well as the bulk shape of the single crystals reversibly changes upon photoisomerization of the component diarylethene molecules in the crystals. The photoinduced shape changes of the molecules in the densely packed crystals give rise to mechanical motion of the crystals and launch a tiny silica-particle. This is the first molecular system, which directly transforms changes of molecular shape to macro-scale motion of the materials and performs mechanical work. This account describes the progress of the research. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan Oxford University Press

Photochromism and Molecular Mechanical Devices

Irie, Masahiro
Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan , Volume 81 (8): 10 – Aug 11, 2008
Download PDF
10 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/oxford-university-press/photochromism-and-molecular-mechanical-devices-787aIFN2DR

References (53)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© 2008 The Chemical Society of Japan
ISSN
0009-2673
eISSN
1348-0634
DOI
10.1246/bcsj.81.917
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

It is a dream for chemists to synthesize molecular systems, which can transform changes of molecular shape induced by external stimuli, such as chemicals, photons, and electrons (or holes), to macro-scale motion of the materials and perform mechanical work. To realize this dream we first prepared photoresponsive polyamides having azobenzene chromophores in the main chain. Although the polyamides changed conformation in solution upon photoinduced trans–cis isomerization, we failed to link the conformational change to macro-scale motion of polymer films and gels. During the course of study on photochromism of diarylethene single crystals we found that the surface morphology as well as the bulk shape of the single crystals reversibly changes upon photoisomerization of the component diarylethene molecules in the crystals. The photoinduced shape changes of the molecules in the densely packed crystals give rise to mechanical motion of the crystals and launch a tiny silica-particle. This is the first molecular system, which directly transforms changes of molecular shape to macro-scale motion of the materials and performs mechanical work. This account describes the progress of the research.

Journal

Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan – Oxford University Press

Published: Aug 11, 2008

There are no references for this article.