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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Free Radicals in Chemical Biology: from Chemical Behavior to Biomarker Development
Published on: April 15, 2013
Electrochromism of fast photochromic radical complexes forming light-unresponsive stable colored radical cation
Katsuya Yamamoto1, Isshu Gomita, Hajime Okajima
1Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5258, Japan. jiro_abe@chem.aoyama.ac.jp.
Abstract:
We demonstrated the electrochromism of photochromic radical complexes containing triaryl imidazole: fast photoswitchable pentaarylbiimidazole (PABI) and the phenoxyl-imidazolyl radical complex (PIC). Cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemistry revealed that PABI and PIC generate the highly stable radical cation by one-electron oxidation accompanied by a color change from colorless to green. The stability of the radical cation is strongly affected by the dihedral angle between the imidazole ring and the phenyl ring at the 2-position of the imidazole ring.
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