Pure Appl. Chem., 2008, Vol. 80, No. 3, pp. 555-561
doi:10.1351/pac200880030555
Photochromic diarylethene as an information processing unit: Magnetic and electric switching*
Kenji Matsuda
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
Abstract:
Photochromic compounds reversibly change not only the absorption spectra but also their geometrical and electronic structures. This principle can be applied for the photoswitching of the physical properties of the molecular materials. In particular, photoswitching of the flow of information through the molecule is interesting because information processing using molecular devices is attracting interest in the molecular electronics field. The photoswitchings of the magnetic exchange interaction and the electrical conductance using photochromic diarylethene are described.
Keywords: electric conductance; exchange interaction; gold nanoparticles; magnetism; photochromism.
*Paper based on a presentation at the 12th International Symposium on Novel Aromatic Compounds (ISNA-12), 22-27 July 2007, Awaji Island, Japan. Other presentations are published in this issue, pp. 411-667.