Photoinduced processes switching

An extension of this study revealed that following selective excitation of the Ir(III)-based unit at 355 nm, rather than that of the porphyrin units at 532 nm, i.e., when the Ir center acts as a photosensitizer, the type of ensuing photoinduced process can be switched in the case of array (a), Fig. 27, from the electron transfer discussed above, to energy transfer [87]. 

Photoinduced processes and resonant third order nonlinearity in poly(3-dodecylthiophene) has been studied by fs time resolved 4-wave mixing . Similar work has been reported for the poly(p-phenylene vinylene) system . Such materials have potential for the use as nonlinear optical switching devices. 

Photochemical switching of the phase transition is also found in the polyion complex film. Figure 29 shows reversible cycles of the absorption at 370nm by the coupling of the thermal and photoinduced phase transition of the complex film with carboxymethylcellulose 8. In conclusion, we indicate that the immobilized bilayer membranes containing the azobenzene chromophore are available to the erasable memory materials based on the phase transition triggered by thermal and photochemical processes. The polyion complex technique is clearly shown to be a very useful method for materialization of the immobilized bilayer membranes. 

Photoinduced electron transfer processes involving electron donor (D) and acceptor (A) components can be tuned via redox reactions. Namely, the excited-state properties of fluorophores can be manipulated by either oxidation of electron donors or reduction of electron acceptors. Also, the oxidized and the reduced species show different properties compared to the respective electron donors and acceptors. By making use of these properties of electron donors and acceptors, a number of molecular switches and logic gates have been described in recent years. In the following, we will introduce these redox-controlled molecular switches according to the redox centers. 

TTF-based D-A systems have been extensively used in recent years to play around photoinduced electron transfer processes. Typically, when an electron acceptor moiety that emits fluorescence intrinsically is linked to TTF (D), the fluorescence due to the A moiety may be quenched because of a photoinduced electron transfer process (Scheme 15.1). Accordingly, these molecular systems are potentially interesting for photovoltaic studies. For instance, efficient photoinduced electron transfer and charge separation were reported for TTF-fullerene dyads.6,7 An important added value provided by TTF relies on the redox behavior of this unit that can be reversibly oxidized according to two successive redox steps. Therefore, such TTF-A assemblies allow an efficient entry to redox fluorescence switches, for which the fluorescent state of the fluorophore A can be reversibly switched on upon oxidation of the TTF unit. 

Methyl viologen (/V, /V - d i m e t h I -4,4 - b i p r i d i n i u m dication, MV2+ ) can function as an electron acceptor.34 When MV2+ is linked to electron donor, photoinduced electron transfer would occur. For example, within molecule 24 the 3MLCT excited state of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ is quenched by MV2+ through oxidative electron transfer process. The excited state of [Ru(bpy)3]2 + can also be quenched by MV" + and MV°. The transient absorption spectroscopic investigations show that the quenching of the excited state of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ by MV + and MV° is due to the reductive electron transfer process. Thus, the direction of the photoinduced electron transfer within molecule 24 is dependent on the redox state of MV2 +, which can be switched by redox reactions induced chemically or electrochemically. This demonstrates the potential of molecule 24 as a redox switchable photodiode.35... 

Switching systems based on photochromic behavior,I29 43,45 77-100 optical control of chirality,175 76 1011 fluorescence,[102-108] intersystem crossing,[109-113] electro-chemically and photochemical induced changes in liquid crystals,l114-119 thin films,170,120-1291 and membranes,[130,131] and photoinduced electron and energy transfer1132-1501 have been synthesized and studied. The fastest of these processes are intramolecular and intermolecular electron and energy transfer. This chapter details research in the development and applications of molecular switches based on these processes. 

Both photoinduced LS —> HS and HS > LS transitions involve transition through a 3Ti state, from which the system can relax into the LS and HS ground states via intersystem crossing processes. This reversible state switching has been summarized as light-induced excited spin state trapping (LIESST) effect,29 and especially for Fe-based compounds it can be conveniently traced by Mossbauer spectroscopy. 

Like proton transfer, photoisomerization is a fundamentally important photochemical process. The two most important forms of photoisomerization are valence isomerization and stereoisomerization. The latter is probably the most common photoinduced isomerization in supramolecular chemistry. It may occur in systems in which the photoactive component has unsaturated bonds which can be excited, and this effect may be exploited for optical switching applications. A number of interfacial supramolecular complexes capable of undergoing cis-trans photoisomerization have been studied from this perspective - some examples are outlined in Chapter 5. 

Finally, the possibility of pure optical switching has been demonstrated in principle by photoinducing supramolecular helical arrangements of smectic domains in some liquid crystal azo polymer films." The photoinduced chirality is pronounced and stable (our oldest sample is still fairly young), but the process is again slow, because it requires reorientation of whole domains. 

The alternative, much easier, mechanism to cause the switching process was based on the use of an external sacrificial redox reactant that operates after the photoinduced deactivation of the Ax station, as illustrated in Fig. 15. Such a sacrificial mechanism is based on the following four operations [7f] ... 

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