Stilbene derivatives are well‐recognised substructures of molecular switches based on photochemically and/or thermally induced (E)/(Z) isomerisation. We combined a stilbene motif with two benzimidazolium arms to prepare new sorts of supramolecular building blocks and examined their binding properties towards cucurbit[n]urils (n=7, 8) and cyclodextrins (β‐CD, γ‐CD) in water. Based on the ¹H NMR data and molecular dynamics simulations, we found that two distinct complexes with different stoichiometry, i. e., guest@β‐CD and guest@β‐CD₂, coexist in equilibrium in a water solution of the (Z)‐stilbene‐based guests. We also demonstrated that the bis(benzimidazolio)stilbene guests can be transformed from the (E) into the (Z) form via UV irradiation and back via thermal treatment in DMSO.

中文翻译：

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基于4,4'-双（苯并咪唑啉）二苯乙烯的光化学/热开关：合成和超分子性质。

二苯乙烯衍生物是公认的基于光化学和/或热诱导的（E）/（Z）异构化的分子开关子结构。我们将二苯乙烯基团与两个苯并咪唑臂结合在一起，以制备新的超分子构件，并研究了它们与水中葫芦[ n ] urils（n = 7，8）和环糊精（β-CD，γ-CD）的结合特性。基于¹ H NMR数据和分子动力学模拟，我们发现具有不同化学计量比的两个不同的配合物，即。例如，guest @ β‐CD和guest @ β‐CD ₂在（Z）基于二苯乙烯的客人。我们还证明了，双（苯并咪唑啉）二苯乙烯客人可以通过紫外线辐射从（E）转变为（Z）形式，并通过DMSO中的热处理转变为（Z）形式。