Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, München, 81377, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2018 Apr 13;9(1):1456. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03912-7.
Remote control of complex molecular behavior and function is one key problem in modern chemistry. Using light signaling for this purpose has many advantages, however the integration of different photo processes into a wholesome yet complex system is highly challenging. Here we report an alternative approach to increase complexity of light control-simultaneous complementary photoswitching-in which spectral overlap is used as an advantage to drastically reduce the signaling needed for controlling multipart supramolecular assemblies. Two photoswitchable molecular tweezers respond to the same light signals with opposite changes in their binding affinities. In this way the configuration of two host tweezers and ultimately the dynamic relocation of a guest molecule can be trigged by only one signal reversibly in the same solution. This approach should provide a powerful tool for the construction of sophisticated, integrated, and multi-responsive smart molecular systems in any application driven field of chemistry.
远程控制复杂的分子行为和功能是现代化学的一个关键问题。为此目的使用光信号有许多优点，然而，将不同的光过程集成到一个整体而复杂的系统中是极具挑战性的。在这里，我们报告了一种增加光控制复杂性的替代方法-同时互补光开关，其中光谱重叠被用作优势，以大大减少控制多组分超分子组装所需的信号。两个光致变色分子镊子对同一光信号做出相反的结合亲和力变化的响应。通过这种方式，两个主体镊子的构型以及最终客体分子的动态重定位可以仅通过同一溶液中的一个信号可逆地触发。这种方法应该为任何化学应用驱动领域中复杂、集成和多响应智能分子系统的构建提供一个强大的工具。
