Double Molecular Photoswitch Driven by Light and Collisions

JN Bull; MS Scholz; E Carrascosa; G Da Silva; EJ Bieske

Journal article

Double Molecular Photoswitch Driven by Light and Collisions

JN Bull, MS Scholz, E Carrascosa, G Da Silva, EJ Bieske

Physical Review Letters | AMER PHYSICAL SOC | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.223002

Abstract

The shapes of many molecules can be transformed by light or heat. Here we investigate collision- and photon-induced interconversions of EE, EZ, and ZZ isomers of the isolated Congo red (CR) dianion, a double molecular switch containing two NN azo groups, each of which can have the E or Z configuration. We find that collisional activation of CR dianions drives a one-way ZZ→EZ→EE cascade towards the lowest-energy isomer, whereas the absorption of a single photon over the 270-600 nm range can switch either azo group from E to Z or Z to E, driving the CR dianion to lower- or higher-energy forms. The experimental results, which are interpreted with the aid of calculated statistical isomerization ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Gabriel da Silva Author

Evan Bieske Author

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Grants

Awarded by Microsoft

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported under the Australian Research Council's Discovery Project and Future Fellowship funding schemes (Projects No. DP150101427, No. DP160100474, and No. FT130101304). J. N. B. acknowledges resources from the Australian National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) through Early Career Allocation ya1 and a Microsoft Azure Research Award. M. S. S. thanks the Australian government for an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship. E. C. acknowledges support by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) through a Schrodinger Fellowship (No. J4013-N36).