Photoswitchable Merocyanine‐Amphiphiles with Programmable Self‐Assembly Times
A merocyanine-based amphiphile was self-assembled into ellipsoids that can be disassembled by irradiation with visible light and reassemble in the dark after a delay of ∼70 minutes. Above a threshold concentration, the reassembly occurs when the ratio of protonated merocyanine to spiropyran reaches 7:3, suggesting both isomers are involved in the assembly. The thermal isomerization of the amphiphile when assembled (half-life ∼13 minutes) is significantly slower than that in dilute solution (half-life ∼3.6 minutes). The self-assembly behavior was confirmed by UV-vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The delay between the isomerization and the assembly processes can be tuned between minutes and hours by adding differently charged co-surfactants.
Authors
- Joakim Andréasson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4695-7943)
- Bailey Richardson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3661-4011)
- Martina H. Stenzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6433-4419)
- Jake P. Violi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3745-2484)
- Hendrik Frisch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8490-5082)
- William A. Donald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6622-8193)
- Anna Sokolova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2772-7395)
- Laura Wimberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2940-3025)
- Jonathon E. Beves (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5997-6580)
- Felix J. Rizzuto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2799-903X)
- Man Him Chak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1248-5358)
- Emma M. V. Johansson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1863-3020)
- Natalie E. Newman
Institutions
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (AU)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Chemistry - A European Journal
- Published
- 2025-08-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202502399
- Primary Topic
- Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
- Australian Government
- Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation
- Australian Cancer Research Foundation
- Australian Synchrotron
- University of New South Wales
- Australian Research Council