作者:Tao Yuan、Zhi-Qiang Wang、Xue-Qing Gong、Qiaochun Wang
DOI:10.1016/j.tetlet.2020.152626
日期:2020.12
Azobenzene (Azo) usually cannot achieve relatively high photoisomerization efficiency because of the overlap of the n-pi* absorption bands between their isomers. In this work, three Azo units were integrated into a cage (AC) and adopt a nonplanar configuration. The distortion of the Azo units in AC results in the reduction of the n-pi* band overlap, and consequently increases the full E -> Z and Z -> E photo-conversions to 87% and 85%, respectively, which are even higher than those of the planar parent azobenzene ADA (85% of E -> Z and 76% of Z -> E). Further theoretical calculations demonstrate that the n-pi* excitation energy gap between the two AC isomers is larger than that of ADA, which further supports the reduction of the n-pi* overlap. This AC shows the highest E <-> Z photoisomerization efficiency among the symmetrical organic covalent cages yet reported. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.