Rotaxanes with integrated photoswitches: design principles, functional behavior, and emerging applications

• Jullyane Emi Matsushima,
• Khushbu,
• Zuliah Abdulsalam,
• Udyogi Navodya Kulathilaka Conthagamage and
• Víctor García-López

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2345–2366, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.179

• demonstrates that mechanical motion within a rotaxane can propagate molecular-level stereochemical information to the macroscopic organization of soft matter, providing a new strategy for dynamic chirality control in functional materials. Spiropyran When spiropyrans are irradiated with UV light, the breaking

• , fluorescence emission, net charge, and color, which distinguish them from other photoswitches. Thus, incorporating these photoswitches into rotaxanes enables the modulation of the macrocycle–axle interactions, leading to materials and biological applications. The first spiropyran-based rotaxane was reported in

• 2007 by Zhou and co-workers [74]. The spiropyran was positioned on the axle and served a dual purpose: as a recognition site and stopper. Photoisomerization led to the reversible shuttling of the macrocycle, which produced a visible absorption output signal that can be seen with the naked eye. Later

Photoswitches beyond azobenzene: a beginner’s guide

• Michela Marcon,
• Christoph Haag and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1808–1853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.143

Highly distinguishable isomeric states of a tripodal arylazopyrazole derivative on graphite through electron/hole-induced switching at ambient conditions

• Himani Malik,
• Sudha Devi,
• Debapriya Gupta,
• Ankit Kumar Gaur,
• Sugumar Venkataramani and
• Thiruvancheril G. Gopakumar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1496–1507, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.112

• triggered through external stimuli to induce the switching and to modulate the function. Photo-triggerable molecular switches like azobenzene (AB) [10][11][12][13], spiropyran [14], diarylethene [15] and multifunctional AB [16] have attracted a lot of interest due to the distinct differences in the

Supramolecular assemblies of amphiphilic donor–acceptor Stenhouse adducts as macroscopic soft scaffolds

• Ka-Lung Hung,
• Leong-Hung Cheung,
• Yikun Ren,
• Ming-Hin Chau,
• Yan-Yi Lam,
• Takashi Kajitani and
• Franco King-Chi Leung

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1590–1603, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.142

• , stiff-stilbene [26], azobenzene [27][28], molecular motors [19][29][30], spiropyran [31][32][33], indigo [34][35], and donor–acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASAs) [36][37], have been used in supramolecular systems for photoswitchable smart electronic, optoelectronic, and biomedical materials [30][38][39

Selected peptide-based fluorescent probes for biological applications

• Debabrata Maity

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2971–2982, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.247

• diverse diseases, such as inflammation, tumor, silicosis, and various lysosomal storage diseases [61][62][63]. Therefore, closely monitoring/visualizing of the lysosomes acidic environment is required to study lysosome-related diseases. Spiropyran (SP) undergoes pH-induced interconversion among protonated

• merocyanine (Mc), and gray sphere: spiropyran at a ring-closed state (Sp); colocalization experiments using peptide 14, LysoTracker Green DND-26 (LTG) and Hoechst 33258 in A549 cells. Cells were stained with c) 10 µM peptide 14 (channel 1: excitation: 515 nm, emission collected: 600–650 nm), d) 0.1 µM LTG

Cation-induced ring-opening and oxidation reaction of photoreluctant spirooxazine–quinolizinium conjugates

• Phil M. Pithan,
• Sören Steup and
• Heiko Ihmels

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 904–916, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.82

• that have been introduced into the structure of the spirooxazine and spiropyran derivatives [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Regardless of whether the ring-opening reaction is induced by cations or irradiation, the coordination of metal ions to the substrate usually results in a negative

Reversible photoswitching of the DNA-binding properties of styrylquinolizinium derivatives through photochromic [2 + 2] cycloaddition and cycloreversion

• Sarah Kölsch,
• Heiko Ihmels,
• Jochen Mattay,
• Norbert Sewald and
• Brian O. Patrick

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 111–124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.13

• attempts have also been made to develop photochromic DNA binders. Thus, it has been shown with spiropyran [19][20][21], stilbene [22][23], azobenzene [24][25][26][27][28], dithienylethene [29][30][31][32], chromene [33], and spirooxazine [34] derivatives that specifically modified photochromic ligands bind

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

Reversible switching of arylazopyrazole within a metal–organic cage

• Anton I. Hanopolskyi,
• Soumen De,
• Michał J. Białek,
• Yael Diskin-Posner,
• Liat Avram,
• Moran Feller and
• Rafal Klajn

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2398–2407, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.232

• photochromism in the spiropyran switch [18]. Other recent studies of photochromic systems within macrocyclic and supramolecular hosts [19] include dihydroazulene switches [20] and red-shifted azobenzenes [21][22] inside cucurbiturils and cyclodextrins. The behavior of light-responsive compounds can also be

An overview on recent advances in the synthesis of sulfonated organic materials, sulfonated silica materials, and sulfonated carbon materials and their catalytic applications in chemical processes

• Hashem Sharghi,
• Pezhman Shiri and
• Mahdi Aberi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2745–2770, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.253

• to afford spiropyran derivatives 74 and 75 in aqueous media under reflux conditions (Scheme 12) [56]. The particular features of these protocols are short reaction times, high reaction yields, mild reaction conditions, and diverse desired products. The silica-bonded sulfo-1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2

Synthesis and metal binding properties of N-alkylcarboxyspiropyrans

• Alexis Perry and
• Christina J. Kousseff

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1542–1550, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.154

• for binding divalent metal cations and a modest increase in M2+ binding affinity correlated with increased alkycarboxylate tether length. Keywords: carboxylate ligand; merocyanine; metal binding; photochromism; spiropyran; Introduction Spiropyrans are a class of spiro-fused indolochromene (e.g

• with the facile elaboration of the spiropyran core, have made spiropyran–merocyanine systems a common motif in molecular switch and sensing applications [2]. In this respect, the difference in optical properties between colourless, non-fluorescent spiropyran and coloured, fluorescent merocyanine has

• spiropyran-modified agarose gel [14][15] and the creation of light-responsive nanopores through modification of natural channel proteins [16]. Furthermore, addition of an N-alkylcarboxylate moiety is a common tactic used to enhance water solubility of spiropyran derivatives [6]. Spiropyran–metal cation

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

• only is a structural change observed but a large change in polarity is yielded additionally [10][22]. It is expected that the ring-closed spiropyran form of this molecular switch does not insert into the base stack due to its twisted structure, but the open merocyanine form could intercalate based on

• by CD spectroscopy, but not in the case of the spiropyran form. Attempts to attach spiropyrans covalently to DNA are rare [26][27] and include our recent approaches to incorporate synthetically the spiropyran chromophore [28], by either DNA building block 1 [29] or by DNA base modifications 2 and 3

• [29][30], into oligonucleotides (Scheme 1). Although the spiropyran DNA building blocks 1 and 2 exhibit promising photochromic properties as nucleosides, it is not worth pursuing this synthetic direction further for the following reasons [30]: (i) It is reported that spiropyrans decompose in aqueous

Ratiometric fluorescent probe for enantioselective detection of D-cysteine in aqueous solution

• Xiao-bo Zhou,
• Wing-Hong Chan,
• Albert W. M. Lee and
• Chi-Chung Yeung

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1508–1515, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.176

• health [32]. On the basis of multipoint electrostatic interactions and structure complementarity of the host–guest, we have rationally designed and synthesised a bis(spiropyran) as a fluorescence turn-on probe for selective binding of GSH [33]. We have also developed the first spiropyran–metal sensing

Anthracene functionalized terpyridines – synthesis and properties

• Falk Wehmeier and
• Jochen Mattay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, No. 54, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.54

• terpyridine derivatives in photochemistry, we focused our attention on the synthesis and studies of potentially photoswitchable terpyridine ligands. The synthesis of bisterpyridines linked by a diazogroup has been reported [7][8]. As well as the connection of terpyridines to spiropyran moieties [9] and

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

• photochemistry, we focused our attention on the synthesis and studies of photoswitchable terpyridine ligands. The synthesis of bisterpyridines linked by a diazogroup has been reported [7][8], as well as the connection of terpyridines to spiropyran moieties [9]. There have also been recent reports about

• processes between the ruthenium nuclei. On the other hand the closed isomer 10aC might act as an acceptor; a similar effect has been observed with a spiropyran moiety bridging two terpyridine units, whose (closed) merocyanine form inhibits the energy transfer between metal centres and thus acts as a T

Molecular recognition of organic ammonium ions in solution using synthetic receptors

• Andreas Späth and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, No. 32, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.32

A divergent asymmetric approach to aza-spiropyran derivative and (1S,8aR)-1-hydroxyindolizidine

• Jian-Feng Zheng,
• Wen Chen,
• Su-Yu Huang,
• Jian-Liang Ye and
• Pei-Qiang Huang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2007, 3, No. 41, doi:10.1186/1860-5397-3-41

• drugs for the treatment of cancer. In continuation of a project aimed at the development of enantiomeric malimide-based synthetic methodology, we now report a divergent, concise and highly diastereoselective approach for the asymmetric syntheses of an aza-spiropyran derivative 7 and (1S,8aR)-1

• -hydroxyindolizidine (ent-3). Results The synthesis of aza-spiropyran 7 started from the Grignard addition of malimide 4. Treatment of the THP-protected 4-hydroxybutyl magnesium bromide with malimide 4 at −20°C afforded N,O-acetal 5a as an epimeric mixture in a combined yield of 89%. Subjection of the diastereomeric

• mixture of N,O-acetal 5a to acidic conditions for 0.5 h resulted in the formation of the desired functionalized aza-spiropyran 7 as a single diastereomer in quantitative yield. The stereochemistry of the aza-spiropyran 7 was determined by NOESY experiment. For the synthesis of ent-3, aza-spiropyran 7, or