Azobenzenes are without a doubt the most widely used light-induced switching units, and there is a plethora of application examples ranging from supramolecular chemistry to material science and biological chemistry. Here, we present a smart azobenzene, in which the photoswitching capability of the azobenzene moiety can be reversibly switched on and off using a second unit (redox switch). This second switching unit is based on the variation of the strength of a chalcogen bond between the azo group and a Te–Ph unit in ortho position to the azo group. This allows the selective switching of only one azobenzene unit in the presence of other azobenzene switches. The entire double-switch is a very simple, small system that can also be easily synthesized. As a result, this double-switch can be used as a smarter replacement for the established azobenzene system in the future. For example, in contrast to the latter this double-switch could be employed to store state information analogous to a flip-flop in digital electronic systems.

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超越简单开关行为的偶氮苯设计

毫无疑问，偶氮苯是应用最广泛的光诱导开关单元，其应用实例众多，从超分子化学到材料科学和生物化学。在这里，我们展示了一种智能偶氮苯，其中偶氮苯部分的光开关能力可以使用第二个单元（氧化还原开关）可逆地打开和关闭。第二个切换单元基于偶氮基团和邻位Te-Ph 单元之间硫属键强度的变化。偶氮组的位置。这允许在存在其他偶氮苯开关的情况下仅选择性地切换一个偶氮苯单元。整个双开关是一个很简单的小系统，也可以很方便的合成。因此，这种双开关可以作为未来已建立的偶氮苯系统的更智能替代品。例如，与后者相比，这种双开关可用于存储状态信息，类似于数字电子系统中的触发器。