title: Azobenzene: A Photoactive Building Block for Supramolecular Architectures.
abstract: The development of nanoscale systems capable to perform specific functions under external control is a challenging task and a fascinating objective in Chemistry. Photochromic compounds undergo radical changes in their physico-chemical properties upon light excitation, for this reason they are valuable building blocks for the construction of photo-controllable molecular devices, machines and materials. The E-Z photoisomerization of azobenzene has been known for almost 80 years and - owing to its high efficiency and excellent reversibility - has been widely employed to introduce an element of photo-control in a large variety of compounds, biomolecules, nanosystems and materials. Here we present some of our research results highlighting how this outstanding photochrome can be utilized to develop systems with light-induced functionalities.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica "G. Ciamician", Università di Bologna, via Selmi 2, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baroncini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica "G. Ciamician", Università di Bologna, via Selmi 2, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bergamini
keywords: Photochromism; isomerization; light-induced functionalities; nanomaterial; photo-switching