TY - JOUR A1 - Goulet-Hanssens, Alexis A1 - Utecht, Manuel A1 - Mutruc, Dragos A1 - Titov, Evgenii A1 - Schwarz, Jutta A1 - Grubert, Lutz A1 - Bleger, David A1 - Saalfrank, Peter A1 - Hecht, Stefan T1 - Electrocatalytic Z -> E Isomerization of Azobenzenes JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society N2 - A variety of azobenzenes were synthesized to study the behavior of their E and Z isomers upon electrochemical reduction. Our results show that the radical anion of the Z isomer is able to rapidly isomerize to the corresponding E configured counterpart with a dramatically enhanced rate as compared to the neutral species. Due to a subsequent electron transfer from the formed E radical anion to the neutral Z starting material the overall transformation is catalytic in electrons; i.e., a substoichiometric amount of reduced species can isomerize the entire mixture. This pathway greatly increases the efficiency of (photo)switching while also allowing one to reach photostationary state compositions that are not restricted to the spectral separation of the individual azobenzene isomers and their quantum yields. In addition, activating this radical isomerization pathway with photoelectron transfer agents allows us to override the intrinsic properties of an azobenzene species by triggering the reverse isomerization direction (Z -> E) by the same wavelength of light, which normally triggers E -> Z isomerization. The behavior we report appears to be general, implying that the metastable isomer of a photoswitch can be isomerized to the more stable one catalytically upon reduction, permitting the optimization of azobenzene switching in new as well as indirect ways. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b10822 SN - 0002-7863 VL - 139 IS - 1 SP - 335 EP - 341 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bleger, David A1 - Dokic, Jadranka A1 - Peters, Maike V. A1 - Grubert, Lutz A1 - Saalfrank, Peter A1 - Hecht, Stefan T1 - Electronic decoupling approach to quantitative photoswitching in linear multiazobenzene architectures JF - The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces & biophysical chemistry N2 - A strategy to optimize the photoswitching efficiency of rigid, linear multiazobenzene constructs is presented. It consists of introducing large dihedral angles between azobenzene moieties linked via aryl-aryl connections in their para positions. Four bisazobenzenes exhibiting different dihedral angles as well as three single azobenzene reference compounds have been synthesized, and their switching behavior has been studied as well as experimentally and theoretically analyzed. As the dihedral angle between the two azobenzene units increases and consequently the electronic conjugation decreases, the photochromic characteristics improve, finally leading to individual azobenzene switches operating independently in the case of the perpendicular ortho,ortho,ortho',ortho'-tetramethyl biphenyl linker. The electronic decoupling leads to efficient separation of the absorption spectra of the involved switching states and hence by choosing the appropriate irradiation wavelength, an almost quantitative E -> Z photoisomerization up to 97% overall Z-content can be achieved. In addition, thermal Z -> E isomerization processes become independent of each other with increasing decoupling. The electronic decoupling could furthermore be proven by electrochemistry. The experimental data are supported by theory, and calculations additionally provide mechanistic insight into the preferred pathway for the thermal Z,Z -> Z,E -> E,E isomerization via inversion on the inner N-atoms. Our decoupling approach outlined herein provides the basis for constructing rigid rod architectures composed of multiple azobenzene photochromes, which display practically quantitative photoswitching properties, a necessary prerequisite to achieve highly efficient transduction of light energy directly into motion. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp2044114 SN - 1520-6106 VL - 115 IS - 33 SP - 9930 EP - 9940 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER -