Premium
Direct Structural Determination of Conformations of Photoswitchable Molecules by Laser Desorption–Electron Diffraction
Author(s) -
Gahlmann Andreas,
Lee IRen,
Zewail Ahmed H.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201003583
Subject(s) - isomerization , photochromism , merocyanine , spiropyran , chemistry , molecule , electron diffraction , diffraction , crystallography , electron , singlet state , photochemistry , physics , optics , atomic physics , organic chemistry , catalysis , quantum mechanics , excited state
Anfractuous paths : Electron diffraction reveals the involvement of multiple structures in the complex photochemistry of photoswitchable nitro‐substituted 1,3,3‐trimethylindolinobenzospiropyran. The spiropyran‐to‐merocyanine isomerization due to ring opening produces primarily the cis–trans–cis structure (see picture; red O, blue N, yellow C), while competing nonradiative pathways lead to other structures, namely the closed forms in their triplet and singlet ground states.