Circularly polarized light modulated supramolecular self-assembly for an azobenzenebased chiral gel.

Kenan Shao, Ziyu Lv, Yuting Xiong, Guodong Li, Dongdong Wang, Haining Zhang and Guangyan Qing*

RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 10360-10363

DOI: 10.1039/c9ra01974j

UV light-triggered trans-to-cis isomerization of azobenzene usually results in the collapse of a self-assembly system owing to the breaking of molecular planarity. Interestingly, two totally opposite self-assembly trends have been detected when a C_2v-symmetric chiral gelator was irradiated by a circularly polarized light (CPL) with specific handedness, indicating that CPL could become a powerful tool in modulating the assembly behaviour of the photo-responsive system.

圆偏振光调制的偶氮苯基手性凝胶的超分子自组装

由于分子平面性的破坏，UV光触发的偶氮苯反式–顺式异构化通常导致自组装体系的坍塌。有趣的是，当C_2v对称手性凝胶剂被具有特定手性的圆偏振光（CPL）照射时，检测到两种完全相反的自组装趋势，这表明CPL可以成为调节光响应性体系装配行为的有力工具。