Fabricating and Modulating Robust Multi-Photoaddressable Systems with the Derivatives of Diarylethylene and Donor-Acceptor Stenhouse Adducts

J Phys Chem Lett. 2022 Apr 28;13(16):3611-3620. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00696. Epub 2022 Apr 15.

Abstract

Multi-photoaddressable systems (MPSs) belong to complex systems, which are comprised of more than one photoswitching molecule and can respond to different wavelengths of light simultaneously. While MPSs have been extensively applied in various fields, there are also some challenges, such as the deficiency of the wavelength-selective control and the interference from the poor thermodynamic stability of used photoswitching molecules. Herein, we reported two robust MPSs (MPS1/2) consisting of diarylethylene derivative (DAE) and different donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASAs), in which both opened and closed forms of DAE and opened forms of DASAs are thermodynamically stable. MPS1/2 enable fully reversible cyclic photoswitching with improved thermal interference resistance. Moreover, MPS2 also shows a favorable property in PMMA films and has been applied in multicolor display. It is expected that the prepared MPSs could be used in more fields such as information storage and reading and encoding light.