A comprehensive overview about the emerging field of photoswitches and their applications in materials science and biology Molecular Photoswitches guides the reader through the basic molecular structures of photochromic compounds and their applications in the area of photoresponsive materials as well as in the biological context. The initial chapters describe individual classes of molecular photoswitches, introducing their principles of photochromism, typical switching wavelengths, thermal stability of photoisomers and other key information, which is ordinarily spread in the literature. These classes comprise i.a. azobenzenes, diazocines, arylazoheterocycles, arylhydrazones, indigoids, photochromic imines, or acylhydrazones. The book also covers: Catalysis with molecular switches Applications in photochromic porous materials, liquid crystals, or nanoparticles Light-responsive molecular machines, logic devices, and molecular magnets Photomodulation of biological systems: photoswitchable biopolymers, lightmodulated antibiotics, cytotoxins, ion channel inhibitors, light-propelled artificial muscles, and computationally designed photochromic proteins This two-volume work is a valuable guide for researchers and non-experts working in the field of photochemistry, organic chemistry, catalysis, materials science, biology, and medicine.

A comprehensive review to the synthesis, properties, and applications of diarylethene-based molecular photoswitches Diarylethene Molecular Photoswitches: Concept and Functionalities provides the fundamental concepts of molecular photoswitches and includes information on how the bistable photoswitches of diarylethenes modulate the functions of materials and biological activities. Written by Masahiro Irie (the inventor of photochromic diarylethene compound), the book explores the reaction mechanism, photoswitching performance, photoswitchable crystals, and the myriad applications of diarylethenes based photoswitches. This book offers academics, chemists, and engineers an essential resource for understanding the molecular photoswitches and provides a guide to the development of new photoresponsive materials. The author explores the applications based on diarylethene and its dirivatives to Field-Effect Transistors, Metal-Organic Frameworks including nanoparticles, super-resolution fluorescence microscopies, drug release, and self-healing materials. This important book: * Offers a guide to diarylethene derivatives, the most widely studied compounds worldwide among the photochromic compounds * Includes the basic concepts of molecular photoswitches * Explores the myraid applications grounded in diarylethene and its derivatives * Presents an authortative text from the inventor of the photochromic diarylethene compound Written for materials scientists, organic, polymer, and physical chemists, and electronics engineers, Diarylethene Molecular Photoswitches offers an introduction to the topic and includes recent developments in the field.

Every day we use switches to turn electric appliances on and off and no computer could function without them. Molecular switches work in the same way, changing from state one to another depending on environmental influences. However, as opposed to normal switches, molecular switches are extremely tiny and their application in nanotechnology, biomedicine and computer chip design opens up whole new horizons. In this manual, the editor and authors describe molecular switches made of catenanes and rotaxanes, dihydroazulenes, fulgides, liquid crystals and polypeptides. The spectrum of topics discussed ranges from chiroptical switches via multifunctional systems to molecular logic systems and biomolecular switches. A wealth of information for chemists and materials scientists in industry and academia interested in one of the most innovative branches of their discipline.

Drawing on the continued wealth of photochemical research, this volume combines reviews on the latest advances in the field with specific topical highlights. Starting with periodical reports of the recent literature on physical and inorganic aspects, light induced reactions in cryogenic matrices, properties of transition-metal compounds, time-resolved spectroscopy, the exploitation of solar energy and the molecules of colour. Coverage continues with highlighted topics, in the second part, from photoresponsive hydrogels, the tunable photoredox properties of organic dyes, light-driven asymmetric organocatalytic processes, dual gold–photoredox catalysis, the preparation and characterization of photosensitizers for triplet–triplet annihilation photon upconversion and the role of photochemistry on traditional synthetic processes. This volume will include for the first time a section entitled ‘SPR Lectures on Photochemistry’, providing examples for academic readers to introduce a photochemistry topic and precious help for students in photochemistry. Providing critical analysis of the topics, this book is essential reading for anyone wanting to keep up to date with the literature on photochemistry and its applications.

This book focuses on photoswitches. The objective of the book is to introduce researchers and graduate course students who are interested in "photon-working switches" not only to the fundamentals but also to the latest research being carried out in this field. Light can reach a target substrate without any physical contact to deliver energy. The energy can induce changes in the structure of the molecules included in the substrate so that its properties and functions are made switchable by light irradiation. When a substrate is able to revert to its original state, this system can be regarded as a "photon-working switch". The terms "photon-working switches" or "photoswitches" are almost equivalent in meaning to "photochromism"; however, they focus on the "switching of functions" of chemical species rather than their "reversible transformation". Most of the authors of this volume are members of PHENICS, an international research group on organic molecular photoswitches composed of research institutions from France, Japan, Russia, China and Germany. Since its inception in 2008, PHENICS has promoted active research to develop the field. This book commemorates the group's eighth year of collaborative research.