Photoswitching of Copper(I) Chromophores with Dithienylethene-Based Ligands.
Metal-containing dithienylethenes offer new opportunities for variations in photochromic behavior. This work reports a series of copper(I) complexes containing dithienylethene-based bidentate phosphine ligands displaying varying photochromic properties. A copper dimer is used as a common precursor, allowing diverse photochromic functionality to be achieved. Calculations show that ring closing of the peripheral dithienyl moiety leads to a slight expansion of the five-membered metallacycle. The photochromic properties and photoreaction quantum yields of these complexes are tunable by variation of the ancillary ligands. Photoswitchable catalysis of a hydroboration reaction with one of the copper complexes is demonstrated.
['Xu|Zhen|Z|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9198-3636', 'Cao|Yang|Y|', 'Patrick|Brian O|BO|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2921-8439', 'Wolf|Michael O|MO|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3076-790X']
photoswitching dithienylethene phosphines copper switchable catalysis