Photoswitching molecules allow writing by irradiation or heat and erasing by visible light

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Photoswitching molecules allow writing by irradiation or heat and erasing by visible light

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UV light writes the ******** character for “light” on treated paper, which then gets erased after irradiation with visible light. A soldering iron then makes marks on treated paper that are erased with visible light irradiation. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University

In this age of cloud storage, few people are backing up data on CD-RWs. The technology to rewrite data on compact disks was made possible by phase-change materials altered by the light and heat of lasers, though this had a limit of 1,000 rewrites.

Today, scientists investigating photoswitching molecules, which change their properties when irradiated, have been finding possible applications for these materials, ranging from photopharmacology to data storage.

Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Engineering student Shota Hamatani, Dr. Daichi Kitagawa, a lecturer, and Professor Seiya Kobatake synthesized aza-diarylethenes, which have nitrogen in place of carbon in a molecular structure similar to known photoswitching diarylethenes. The new aza-diarylethenes exhibited not only photoswitching, but thermal switching as well.

The findings were

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in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

They demonstrated that the new photoswitching molecules can be used as a rewritable recording medium, using light or heat to write, and erasing with light.

“Our findings are very useful for the development of switching molecules that can be reversibly altered not only by light, but also by heat,” Dr. Kitagawa said. “They may also lead to the development of new functional materials.”

More information:
Shota Hamatani et al, Aza‐Diarylethenes Undergoing Both Photochemically and Thermally Reversible Electrocyclic Reactions, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2024).

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Osaka Metropolitan University

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Photoswitching molecules allow writing by irradiation or heat and erasing by visible light (2024, October 16)
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#Photoswitching #molecules #writing #irradiation #heat #erasing #visible #light

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