Although the desirability of developing synthetic molecular machine systems that can function on surfaces is widely recognized, to date the only well-characterized examples of electrochemically switchable rotaxane-based molecular shuttles which can do so are based on the tetracationic viologen macrocycle pioneered by Stoddart. Here, we report on a [2]rotaxane which features succinamide and naphthalene diimide hydrogen-bonding stations for a benzylic amide macrocycle that can shuttle and switch its net position both in solution and in a monolayer. Three oxidation states of the naphthalene diimide unit can be accessed electrochemically in solution, each one with a different binding affinity for the macrocycle and, hence, corresponding to a different distribution of the rings between the two stations in the molecular shuttle. Cyclic voltammetry experiments show the switching to be both reversible and cyclable and allow quantification of the translational isomer ratios (thermodynamics) and shuttling dynamics (kinetics) for their interconversion in each state. Overall, the binding affinity of the naphthalene diimide station can be changed by 6 orders of magnitude over the three states. Unlike previous electrochemically active amide-based molecular shuttles, the reduction potential of the naphthalene diimide unit is sufficiently positive (-0.68 V) for the process to be compatible with operation in self-assembled monolayers on gold. Incorporating pyridine units into the macrocycle allowed attachment of the shuttles to an acid-terminated self-assembled monolayer of alkane thiols on gold. The molecular shuttle monolayers were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and their electrochemical behavior probed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and double-potential step chronoamperometry, which demonstrated that the redox-switched shuttling was maintained in this environment, occurring on the millisecond time scale.
Solvent-dependent switching between two dipolar excited states in a rigidly extended trichromophoric system van Dijk, S.I.; Wiering, P.G.; Groen, C.P.; Brouwer, A.M.; Verhoeven, J.W.; Schuddeboom, W.; Warman, J.M.
The lowest excited singlet states of the structurally rigid amines 1-azaadamantane and 1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane have been investigated by using fluorescence excitation spectroscopy on samples seeded in supersonic expansions. Based upon the notion that in both species the lowest excited singlet state is a Rydberg state with the ground state of the radical cation as its ionic core, excitation spectra have been analyzed by employing density functional calculations of the equilibrium geometries and force fields of the ground state of the neutral species and its radical cation. A good agreement is obtained between experimentally observed and theoretically predicted frequencies and intensities of vibronic transitions. Subsequent refinements of the geometry of the lowest excited singlet state are shown to account adequately for the minor differences between experiment and the computational results obtained by using the radical cation as a model for the lowest excited singlet state. From our analysis it also becomes apparent that the excited state is in both molecules subject to vibronic coupling with higher-lying excited states, as exemplified by the presence of transitions to non-totally symmetric vibrational levels. The results of the present study enable the determination of mode-specific reorganization energies accompanying ionization of 1-azaadamantane, which are shown to correspond qualitatively well with those determined in resonance Raman studies on the charge transfer transition in the electron donor−acceptor system 1, which contains 1-azaadamantane as the electron donor unit.
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