Rubizhne Institute - A Birthplace of Photochromic Molecules

We introduce the community to the remarkable fact that two significant discoveries in the field of organic photoswitches are associated to the Rubizhne (Rubezhnoe) branch of the Research Institute of Organic Intermediates and Dyes during the last century. The institute in Rubizhne was a place where researchers of various nationalities carried out studies of organic dyes for printing and textiles. These efforts resulted in the discoveries of photoswitchable hemithioindigos by M. A. Mostoslavskii and peri-aryloxyquinones by Yu. E. Gerasimenko. Herein, based on the available literature, we reconstruct the circumstances surrounding these outstanding findings and highlight the unique role of the Rubizhne institute as a research center. Furthermore, we demonstrate the impact of the results of the Rubizhne researchers on the field of photoswitchable molecules.