Light- and Temperature-Controlled Hybridization, Chiral Induction and Handedness of Helical Foldamers.

Helical foldamers have attracted much attention over the last decades given their resemblance to certain biomacromolecules and their potential in domains as different as pharmaceutics, catalysis and photonics. Various research groups have successfully controlled the right- or left- handedness of these oligomers by introducing stereogenic centers through covalent or non-covalent chemistry. However, developing helical structures whose handedness can be reversibly switched remains a major challenge for chemists. To date, such an achievement has been reported with light-responsive single-stranded foldamers only. Herein, we demonstrate that grafting a unidirectional motor onto foldamer strands constitutes a relevant strategy to i) control the single or double helical state of a foldamer, ii) switch on the chiral induction process from the motor to the helical strands and iii) select the handedness of double helical structures through photochemical and thermal stimulations.

Combining Benzazolo-Oxazolidine Twins toward Multi-state Nonlinear Optical Switches.

Molecular switches are chemical compounds exhibiting the possibility of reversible transformations between their different forms accompanied by a modification in their properties. Among these, switching of multi-addressable Benzazolo-OXazolidines (BOXs) from a closed form to an open form results in drastic modifications in their linear and nonlinear optical properties. Here, we target molecules containing two identical BOX units (DiBOX) connected by different π-conjugated linkers, and we combine synthesis, UV/visible absorption, and hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) measurements, together with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Three derivatives have been considered, which differ by the linker: (i) a bithiophene moiety (Bt), (ii) two 3,4-ethylenedioxythiopene (EDOT) units, and (iii) a triad composed of an EDOT-thiophene-EDOT sequence (TtO). As a matter of fact, these systems can adopt three states (CF-CF, POF-POF, and CF-POF) depending on the closed form (CF) or the protonated open form (POF) of each BOX unit. Despite chemical equivalence, stepwise switching of such systems under the addition of a chemical acid or an oxidant has been experimentally evidenced for two of them (DiBOX-Bt and DiBOX-TtO). Then, DFT calculations show that the first BOX opening leads to the formation of a push-pull π-conjugated segment, exhibiting a huge increase in the first hyperpolarizability (ß) and a bathochromic shift with respect to the fully closed form. On the contrary, the second BOX opening induces not only a slight bathochromic shift but also a reduction in their ß values conferring the great and uncommon abilities to modulate their linear and nonlinear properties over three discrete levels. Among these results, those on DiBOX-Bt agree with the experimental data obtained by HRS measurements and further shed light on their structure-property relationship.

When Light and Acid Play Tic-Tac-Toe with a Nine-State Molecular Switch.

Combining different molecular switching functions in a single molecule is a simple strategy to develop commutable molecules featuring more than two commutation states. The present study reports on two molecular systems consisting of two indolino-oxazolidine (Box) moieties connected to an aromatic bridge (phenyl or bithiophene) by ethylenic junctions. Such systems, referenced as BiBox, are expected to show up multiaddressable and multiresponsive behaviors. On one hand, the oxazolidine ring opening/closure of Box moieties can be addressed by chemical stimuli, and on the other hand, the trans-to-cis isomerization of the ethylenic junctions is induced by visible light irradiation (with a thermal back conversion). NMR and UV-visible spectroscopies allowed to characterize up to nine out of the ten theoretically expected commutation states as well as to measure the kinetics of the interconversions. Also, steady state fluorescence spectroscopy measurements highlighted the strong influence of the open/closed states of the Box moieties on their emission properties.