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Photochemically and Thermally Driven Full‐Color Reflection in a Self‐Organized Helical Superstructure Enabled by a Halogen‐Bonded Chiral Molecular Switch
Author(s) -
Wang Hao,
Bisoyi Hari Krishna,
Wang Ling,
Urbas Augustine M.,
Bunning Timothy J.,
Li Quan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201712781
Subject(s) - photoisomerization , superstructure , materials science , supramolecular chemistry , molecular switch , supramolecular chirality , dopant , halogen , reflection (computer programming) , cholesteric liquid crystal , doping , liquid crystal , photochemistry , nanotechnology , crystallography , optoelectronics , chemistry , crystal structure , molecule , alkyl , organic chemistry , isomerization , oceanography , computer science , programming language , geology , catalysis
Supramolecular approaches toward the fabrication of functional materials and systems have been an enabling endeavor. Recently, halogen bonding has been harnessed as a promising supramolecular tool. Herein we report the synthesis and characterization of a novel halogen‐bonded light‐driven axially chiral molecular switch. The photoactive halogen‐bonded chiral switch is able to induce a self‐organized, tunable helical superstructure, that is, cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC), when doped into an achiral liquid crystal (LC) host. The halogen‐bonded switch as a chiral dopant has a high helical twisting power (HTP) and shows a large change of its HTP upon photoisomerization. This light‐driven dynamic modulation enables reversible selective reflection color tuning across the entire visible spectrum. The chiral switch also displays a temperature‐dependent HTP change that enables thermally driven red, green, and blue (RGB) reflection colors in the self‐organized helical superstructure.