title: Dithienylethene-based rotaxanes: synthesis, characterization and properties.
abstract: The photochromic materials have been widely applied in many fields. In this article, we report a class of photochromic ammoniums with a dithienylethene backbone. They were utilized as templates to construct mechanically interlocked rotaxanes and pseudorotaxanes showing photo-responsive behavior by template-directed clipping reaction and the threading approach. The structures of novel rotaxanes were well defined. It is worth mentioning that the single crystal structure of [3]rotaxane containing two N-hetero crown ether units was obtained. Their photoisomerization behavior was investigated. These N-hetero crown ether-based rotaxanes displayed good reversibility and similar photochromic behaviors to their corresponding ammoniums when they underwent UV/vis photoirradiation. Interestingly, the cucurbit[6]uril-based pseudorotaxane showed better photoisomerization than its corresponding ammonium and those of N-hetero crown ether-based rotaxanes.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China. yinj@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Juanyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Meijiao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ying-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Sheng Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D060326:Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D043862:Rotaxanes / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D013455:Sulfur / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D043862:Rotaxanes; D013455:Sulfur