Topic 3: Photoswitchable Materials

    Photoswitchable compounds are fascinating chemicals because they could respond to certain light irradiation and change their molecular structure through ring open-closing, cis-trans isomerization and so on. Photoswitches have already wide applications in photopharmacology, optical storage, super-resolution imaging, and so on. On the one hand, classical photoswitchable compounds such as azobenzenes, spiropyrans/spirooxazines, diarylethenes require UV light activation. These compounds are extensively studied. On the other hand, there are other photoswitchable compounds responding to light with longer wavelength (visible light and even NIR). However, these compounds are lesser known and remain to be exploited.
    We are particularly interested in achieving analytical advantages with photoswitching. For example, we found that 1 ) photoswitching could be benefit for optical sensing in complex samples to remove optical interference (autofluorescence, scattering ,etc.); 2) molecular interaction during photoswitching and reaction kinetics could add new dimensions to fluorescence sensing and imaging, resulting in high-contrast, hyper-sensitive, and multiplexed methodologies.