The development of new classes of molecular switches with enhanced performance and brand-new functionalities enables practitioners to push the frontiers of adaptive and biomimetic materials. The past decade has witnessed the emergence of photo- and chemically activated hydrazones as new molecular tools that can be used in addressing many of the challenges facing the field of molecular switches and machines. In this perspective, we walk through the evolution of these switches and highlight the unique dynamic and/or adaptive capabilities that they bring forth, allowing access to unprecedented opportunities. We focus on reaction cascades driven by the chemically activated switches and show how dynamic inter-molecular communication can be used in advancing a systems chemistry approach to solving challenges in the field. As for photochemically activated hydrazones, their bistability enables the multistate actuation of polymers as well as the kinetic trapping of different self-assemblies of liquid crystals, resulting in an emergent phenomenon.

具有增强的性能和全新功能的新型分子开关的开发使从业人员能够推动自适应和仿生材料的前沿。过去十年见证了光活化和化学活化的azo酮作为新的分子工具的出现，可用于应对分子开关和机器领域面临的许多挑战。从这个角度来看，我们将逐步探讨这些开关的演变过程，并重点介绍它们带来的独特动态和/或自适应功能，从而获得前所未有的机会。我们专注于由化学激活的开关驱动的反应级联，并展示了如何利用分子间动态通讯来推进系统化学方法来解决该领域的挑战。