Flipping the Switch: Fast Photoisomerization in a Confined Environment

Stimuli-responsive materials are vital for addressing emerging demands in the advanced technology sector as well as current industrial challenges. Here, we report for the first time that coordinative integration of photoresponsive building blocks possessing photochromic spiropyran and diarylethene moieties within a rigid scaffold of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) could control photophysics, in particular, cycloreversion kinetics, with a level of control that is not accessible in the solid state or solution. On the series of photoactive materials, we demonstrated for the first time that photoisomerization rates of photochromic compounds could be tuned within almost 2 orders of magnitude. Moreover, cycloreversion rates of photoresponsive derivatives could be modulated as a function of the framework structure. Furthermore, through MOF engineering we were able to achieve complete isomerization for coordinatively immobilized spiropyran derivatives, typically exhibiting limited photoswitching behavior in the solid state. For instance, spectroscopic analysis revealed that the novel monosubstituted spiropyran derivative grafted to the backbone of the MOF pillar exhibits a remarkable photoisomerization rate of 0.16 s–1, typical for cycloreversion in solution. We also applied the acquired fundamental principles toward mapping of changes in material properties, which could provide a pathway for monitoring material aging or structural deterioration.