Creation and function of extremely small photoswitch having axial chirality

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13976
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Functional solid state chemistry
• Research Institution: Yokohama National University
• Principal Investigator: Ubukata Takashi 横浜国立大学, 大学院工学研究院, 准教授 (00344028)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: フォトクロミズム / 電子環状反応 / 軸不斉

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have designed and synthesized a series of novel chiral photoswitch having a hexatriene structure in which an ethenyl group is introduced into the axially asymmetric binaphthyl skeleton. These compounds showed thermally reversible photochromism between hexatriene and cyclohexadiene. The original helix of the hexatriene structure was maintained in the process of ring-closing reaction by ultraviolet light and subsequent ring-opening reaction by heat, while helix-inverted hexatriene was generated at a certain ratio in ring-opening reaction by visible light. Different chiral selectivity was admitted between the photoreaction and thermal reaction.

Free Research Field

光機能化学