Azobenzene-Substituted Triptycenes: Understanding the Exciton Coupling of Molecular Switches in Close Proximity

Herein, we report a series of azobenzene-substituted triptycenes. In their design, these switching units were placed in close proximity, but electronically separated by a sp³ center. The azobenzene switches were prepared by Baeyer-Mills coupling as key step. The isomerization behavior was investigated by ¹ H NMR spectroscopy, UV/Vis spectroscopy, and HPLC. It was shown that all azobenzene moieties are efficiently switchable. Despite the geometric decoupling of the chromophores, computational studies revealed excitonic coupling effects between the individual azobenzene units depending on the connectivity pattern due to the different transition dipole moments of the π→π* excitations. Transition probabilities for those excitations are slightly altered, which is also revealed in their absorption spectra. These insights provide new design parameters for combining multiple photoswitches in one molecule, which have high potential as energy or information storage systems, or, among others, in molecular machines and supramolecular chemistry.