title: Azobenzene-functionalized cage silsesquioxanes as inorganic-organic hybrid, photoresponsive, nanoscale, building blocks.
abstract: Mono- and octa-azobenzene-functionalized cage silsesquioxanes were easily synthesized by the reaction of 4-bromoazobenzene with monovinyl-substituted octasilsesquioxane and cubic octavinylsilsesquioxane through the Heck coupling reaction. Excited-state energies obtained from time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and the CAM-B3LYP functional correlate very well with experimental trans-cis photoisomerization results from UV/Vis spectroscopy. These azobenzene-functionalized cages exhibit good thermal stability and are fluorescent with maximum emission at approximately 400 nm, making them potential materials for blue-light emission.
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (USA); Institute of High Performance Computing, 1 Fusionopolis Way, #16-06 Connexis, Singapore 138632 (Singapore).
authors: Yun
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Wenyan
authors: W
authors: Yang
authors: Hongzhi
authors: H
authors: Liu
keywords: azobenzene unit; cage compounds; photoresponsive behaviors; silsesquioxanes; time-dependent DFT(TDDFT)