Effect of substitution position of aryl groups on the thermal back reactivity of aza-diarylethene photoswitches and prediction by density functional theory

• Misato Suganuma,
• Daichi Kitagawa,
• Shota Hamatani and
• Seiya Kobatake

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 242–252, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.16

• Misato Suganuma Daichi Kitagawa Shota Hamatani Seiya Kobatake Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan 10.3762/bjoc.21.16 Abstract Aza-diarylethene has been developed as a new

• family of photochromic compounds. This study explores the photochromic properties and thermal back reactivities of various aza-diarylethene regioisomers (N1–N4 and I1–I4) in n-hexane. These molecules exhibit fast thermally reversible photochromic reactions driven by 6π aza-electrocyclization. Kinetic

• reactivity, closely matching the experimental data. These findings offer valuable insights for the design of advanced photochromic materials with tailored thermal and photophysical characteristics. Keywords: aza-diarylethene; DFT calculation; photochromism; prediction; thermal back reactivity; Introduction

Switchable molecular tweezers: design and applications

• Pablo Msellem,
• Maksym Dekthiarenko,
• Nihal Hadj Seyd and
• Guillaume Vives

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 504–539, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.45

Recent advancements in iodide/phosphine-mediated photoredox radical reactions

• Tinglan Liu,
• Yu Zhou,
• Junhong Tang and
• Chengming Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1785–1803, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.131

• colleagues reported on the photocatalytic decarboxylative alkenylation reactions facilitated by cooperative NaI/PPh3 catalysis [9]. These conversions involved the coupling of 1,1-diarylethene/cinnamic acid derivatives (1, 2) with redox-active esters 3 (Scheme 3). Notably, the reactions were driven by blue

Light-responsive rotaxane-based materials: inducing motion in the solid state

• Adrian Saura-Sanmartin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 873–880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.64

• properties of the material, leading to photochemically breakable and regenerative polymers showing a similar behaviour to that observed in diarylethene MOFs [74]. The range of materials in which light-responsive rotaxanes have been incorporated in order to induce motions of the counterparts in the solid

Light-controllable dithienylethene-modified cyclic peptides: photoswitching the in vivo toxicity in zebrafish embryos

• Sergii Afonin,
• Oleg Babii,
• Aline Reuter,
• Volker Middel,
• Masanari Takamiya,
• Uwe Strähle,
• Igor V. Komarov and
• Anne S. Ulrich

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 39–49, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.6

• , (iii) demonstrate photoswitching of the whole-body toxicity for the dithienylethene-modified peptides in vivo, (iv) re-analyze previous structure–toxicity relationship data, and (v) select promising candidates for potential clinical development. Keywords: diarylethene photoswitch; gramicidin S

Design, synthesis and investigation of water-soluble hemi-indigo photoswitches for bioapplications

• Daria V. Berdnikova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2822–2829, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.275

• photochemical properties. Along these lines, special efforts have been devoted to design, for example, water-soluble derivatives of spiropyran [1][2][3], azobenzene [4][5], diarylethene [6][7][8], or chromene [9] that keep efficient photochromism in aqueous medium. Although a significant progress has been made

Photoreversible stretching of a BAPTA chelator marshalling Ca²⁺-binding in aqueous media

• Aurélien Ducrot,
• Arnaud Tron,
• Robin Bofinger,
• Ingrid Sanz Beguer,
• Jean-Luc Pozzo and
• Nathan D. McClenaghan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2801–2811, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.273

• chelating groups would also have a significant effect. Some groups reported BAPTA-diarylethene and EDTA-spiropyran conjugates, while noting limitations for implementation in terms of fatigue, solubility and relatively small affinity changes [25][26]. We further highlight a structurally elegant design

A photochemical determination of luminescence efficiency of upconverting nanoparticles

• Baptiste Amouroux,
• Clément Roux,
• Jean-Claude Micheau,
• Fabienne Gauffre and
• Christophe Coudret

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2671–2677, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.260

• efficiency of these green-emitting “nanolamps”. The agreement of the collected data with the previous published results validates this approach. Keywords: actinometry; diarylethene; lanthanide; photochemistry; upconverting nanoparticle; Introduction The photophysical property of converting low-energy light

• diamminetetrakis(thiocyanato)chromate(III)), photochromic dyes have been proposed for such a purpose, mainly from the azobenzene, fulgide or diarylethene families [22]. The latter two are particularly attractive for visible light wavelengths above 400 nm. However, their use is conditioned by their availability and

• reliability. Recently, an accurate determination of photochemical quantum yields (QY) [26] was achieved for a commercially available diarylethene 1,2-bis(2,4-dimethyl-5-phenylthien-3-yl)-3,3,4,4,5,5-hexafluoro-1-cyclopentene, labelled 1. Since then, this dye has been used as actinometer in the visible range

Photochromic diarylethene ligands featuring 2-(imidazol-2-yl)pyridine coordination site and their iron(II) complexes

• Andrey G. Lvov,
• Max Mörtel,
• Anton V. Yadykov,
• Frank W. Heinemann,
• Valerii Z. Shirinian and
• Marat M. Khusniyarov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2428–2437, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.235

• University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Egerlandstraße 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.15.235 Abstract A new family of photochromic diarylethene-based ligands bearing a 2-(imidazol-2-yl)pyridine coordination unit has been developed. Four members of the new family have been synthesized. The photoactive

• . Unexpectedly, dinuclear and tetranuclear iron(II) complexes were obtained, which were thoroughly characterized by X-ray crystallography, magnetic measurements, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The formation of multinuclear complexes is facilitated by two coordination sites of the diarylethene, acting as a bridging

• ligand. The bridging nature of the diarylethene in the complexes prevents photocyclization. Keywords: diarylethene; 2-(imidazol-2-yl)pyridine; iron(II) complex; photochromism; Introduction Transition metal complexes with photoactive ligands are of great interest for advanced photonic applications [1][2

Mono- and bithiophene-substituted diarylethene photoswitches with emissive open or closed forms

• A. Lennart Schleper,
• Mariano L. Bossi,
• Vladimir N. Belov and
• Stefan W. Hell

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2344–2354, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.227

• 12 (Scheme 2) were prepared. The transformations leading to diarylethene cores 3 and 6 were carried out on a 10–100 mmol scale (Scheme 1). The iodination at positions 6 and 6' of benzo[b]thiophene residues has been reported [5][8]. Following those protocols, diiodides 5 and 8 were obtained in fairly

Aggregation-induced emission effect on turn-off fluorescent switching of a photochromic diarylethene

• Luna Kono,
• Yuma Nakagawa,
• Ayako Fujimoto,
• Ryo Nishimura,
• Yohei Hattori,
• Toshiki Mutai,
• Nobuhiro Yasuda,
• Kenichi Koizumi,
• Satoshi Yokojima,
• Shinichiro Nakamura and
• Kingo Uchida

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2204–2212, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.217

• , diarylethene derivatives with photoswitchable fluorescent properties were prepared. They are applicable for fluorescence imaging including bio-imaging. On the other hand, a new system called “excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT)” is reported. In the system, absorption and emission bands are

• largely separated due to the proton transfer, hence it showed strong fluorescence even in the crystalline state. We aimed to construct the photochromic system incorporating the ESIPT mechanism. Results: A diarylethene incorporating a fluorescent moiety that exhibit ESIPT behavior was prepared. The ESIPT

• . In addition, it shows turn-off type fluorescence switching in an aprotic solvent and in crystals. The fluorescence is quenched as the content of closed-ring isomers increases upon UV light irradiation. Conclusions: A diarylethene containing an ESIPT functional group was prepared. It showed

Click chemistry towards thermally reversible photochromic 4,5-bisthiazolyl-1,2,3-triazoles

• Chenxia Zhang,
• Kaori Morinaka,
• Mahmut Kose,
• Takashi Ubukata and
• Yasushi Yokoyama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2161–2169, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.213

• electron-withdrawing cyano groups than when they are electron-donating methoxy groups. Keywords: aromatic stabilization energy; diarylethene; ruthenium(I) catalysed Huisgen cyclization; terarylene; thermally reversible photochromism; Introduction Diarylethenes are one of the most widely investigated

• photochromic diarylethenes containing triazole groups have been reported [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], all of them use the triazole ring as the linker of the second functional molecule with the diarylethene core. To the best of our knowledge, no diarylethenes or terarylenes possessing the

Synthesis of functionalized diazocines for application as building blocks in photo- and mechanoresponsive materials

• Widukind Moormann,
• Daniel Langbehn and
• Rainer Herges

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 727–732, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.68

• mechanophores such as azobenzene [4][5][6][7][8], diarylethene [9][10][11][12][13] and spiropyrans [14][15][16][17][18] have been investigated as photoswitchable building blocks. Bridged azobenzenes also known as diazocines exhibit excellent photochemical properties but applications are limited and suitably

The role of alkyl substituents in deazaadenine-based diarylethene photoswitches

• Christopher Sarter,
• Michael Heimes and
• Andres Jäschke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1103–1110, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.106

• substituents at the carbon atoms between which the bond is formed or broken in the electrocyclic rearrangement. Here we probe this claim by the synthesis and characterization of four pairs of deazaadenine-based diarylethene photoswitches with either one or two methyl groups at these positions. Depending on the

• DNA photoswitches for the application in bionanotechnology and synthetic biology. Keywords: diarylethene; nucleoside; electrocyclic rearrangement; photochromism; photoswitch; Introduction Most biomacromolecules are per se not responsive to light. Their conversion into photoresponsive molecules opens

• cyclopentenyl bridge, which may also be perfluorinated. Substituents on the aryl rings tune the photophysical and chemical properties, such as absorption and isomerization wavelengths, thermal stability, and fatigue resistance. In 2010 our group reported the first diarylethene-based photoswitchable nucleosides

Multichromophoric sugar for fluorescence photoswitching

• Stéphane Maisonneuve,
• Rémi Métivier,
• Pei Yu,
• Keitaro Nakatani and
• Juan Xie

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 1471–1481, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.151

• multichromophoric glucopyranoside 2 bearing three dicyanomethylenepyran (DCM) fluorophores and one diarylethene (DAE) photochrome has been prepared by Cu(I)-catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition reaction. The fluorescence of 2 was switched off upon UV irradiation, in proportion with the open to closed form (OF to CF

• -dicyanomethylene-2-tert-butyl-6-(p-dialkylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran) [3] with a photochromic diarylethene (DAE) which showed a photoreversible two-way FRET controlled by the state of the photochromic moiety, and 49% quenching of the fluorescence upon UV irradiation [4]. Bifunctional molecules built on two distinct

• sodium azide afforded the corresponding 6-azido sugar 8 which was treated with alkyne-functionalized photochromic diarylethene 9 [26] to furnish the target compound 2 in 68% yield. The structure of this compound has been confirmed by NMR and HRMS spectra. Photophysical studies The fluorescent glucoside

The effect of the formyl group position upon asymmetric isomeric diarylethenes bearing a naphthalene moiety

• Renjie Wang,
• Shouzhi Pu,
• Gang Liu and
• Shiqiang Cui

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1018–1026, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.114

• solution and PMMA films. Cyclic voltammograms proved that the formyl group and its position could effectively modulate the electrochemical behaviors of these diarylethene derivatives. Keywords: chemical diversity; diarylethene; electrochemistry; formyl group; photochromism; substituent position effect

• ; Introduction In the past decade, photochromic materials have received much attention because of their applications in potential photoswitchable, molecular devices and optical memory storage systems [1]. Among these materials, the utilization of diarylethene derivatives in molecular electronics, optical memory

• ][30][31]. Among these compounds, diarylethene is one of the most promising photoswitchable units within the photochromic system, and the successful use of diarylethenes as a fluorescence modulation center to realize a photoswitchable probe for imaging living cells was reported. For example, Zou et al

Diarylethene-modified nucleotides for switching optical properties in DNA

• Sebastian Barrois and
• Hans-Achim Wagenknecht

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 905–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.103

• . Diarylethenes have been applied in a noncovalent chiroptical photoswitchable DNA complex [33] and combined with 7-deazaadenosine to obtain a nucleosidic diarylethene switch [34]. Recently, we reported, very preliminarily, the preparation and optical properties of nucleoside 4 [30]. Herein, we give a full

• account and present the detailed synthesis of diarylethene-modified nucleosides 4, 5 and 6 (Scheme 1), and the characterization of their photochromic behavior. It turned out to be most promising to continue the DNA work with the modified and photochromic nucleoside 4, which was, thus, incorporated into

• representative oligonucleotides by using automated phosphoramidite chemistry, and characterized with respect to its photochromism in DNA. Results and Discussion Design and synthesis of diarylethene-modified 2’-deoxyuridines 4–6 The typical way to tether fluorophores to oligonucleotides is to use an alkyl chain

A perfluorocyclopentene based diarylethene bearing two terpyridine moieties – synthesis, photochemical properties and influence of transition metal ions

• Falk Wehmeier and
• Jochen Mattay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, No. 53, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.53

• perfluorocyclopentene based diarylethene bearing two terpyridine units is reported. Furthermore studies of the free ligand’s photochromism and investigations regarding the influence of various transition metal ions on the photochromic reaction are presented. The photochromism of the central diarylethene unit is

• strongly dependent on the transition metal present, vice versa the photochromic reaction seems to influence the MLCT transition of a binuclear Ru(II) complex. Keywords: coordination chemistry; diarylethene; photochromism; terpyridine; Introduction 2,2′:6′,2″-Terpyridines have been of great interest over

• diarylethene unit (3) can be obtained by lithiation of 3-bromo-2-methylbenzo[b]thiophene (1) followed by quenching with perfluorocyclopentene (2), according to the method described by Irie [12]. Electrophilic iodination leads to the diiodo photoswitch 4 (Scheme 1) [13][14]. We decided to use the diiodo switch