Photoswitchable Organometallics

PHOTO SWITCHABLE ORGANOMETALLICS. Zoraida Freixa 1,2 1 Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV -EHU), Donostia -San Sebastián, 20018, Spain 2 IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48011, Bilbao, Spain Zoraida_freixa@ehu.eus In the last few decades, the development of photoresponsive materials has become an intensive area of research. These substances are intended for the production of “smart chemical systems”, whose properties — and eventually functionality — are controlled by changes of the environment (light irradiation). These systems have been already implemented in a wide range of modern materials and devices for daily applications such as sunglass lenses, memory devices, photochromic inks, etc. In spite of the importance and versatility of organometallic complexes, smart photoresponsive examples remain rather unexplored in comparison with the plethora of well known light -triggered organic switches. In principle, photoresponsive metal complexes can be obtained by incorporation of organic photochromic units in the structure of their ligands. These photosensitive ligands, rather than acting as conventional spectators that tune the properties of their complexes, transform them into dynamic smart entities able to offer a functional response to an external stimulus. 1 In our group, we work on the development of such photoresponsive organometallics for diverse applications. We have explored several areas of application exploding some of the most prominent properties of organometallics. Namely, their luminescence, catalytic activity or their potential use as metallodrugs. As will be discussed, the compatibility of the metal coordination and the photoresponse of the molecular switch is an issue that needs to be carefully addressed. 1. Crabtree, R. H., Multifunctional ligands in transition metal catalysis. New J. Chem. 2011, 35, 18 -23. Website: www.freixagroup.com