Reversible Handedness Inversion and Circularly Polarized Light Reflection Tuning in Self‐Organized Helical Superstructures Using Visible‐Light‐Driven Macrocyclic Chiral Switches
Abstract
A series of macrocyclic azobenzene‐based chiral photoswitches have been judiciously designed, synthesized, and characterized. In the molecular structures, binaphthyl is covalently linked to ortho‐positions of azobenzene, and four different substituents are linked to 6,6′‐positions of binaphthyl. The photoswitches show enhanced helical twisting power (HTP) when doping in commercially available achiral liquid crystals to form self‐organized helical superstructures, i.e., cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs). All the photoswitches exhibit reversible photoisomerization driven by visible light of different wavelengths in both organic solvent and liquid crystals. The photoswitches with shorter substituents enable handedness inversion of CLCs upon photoisomerization. These are the first examples of ortho‐linked azobenzene‐based photoswitches that enable handedness inversion in CLCs. The photoswitches with longer substituents display only HTP values decreasing while maintaining the same handedness.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 09, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1002/ange.202216600
Entities
People
- Hao Wang
- Hari Krishna Bisoyi
- Quan Li
- Yuqi Tang
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory
- Kent State University
- Southeast University