Photodynamic Chiral Molecular Switches with Thermal Stability: From Reflection Wavelength Tuning to Handedness Inversion of Self‐Organized Helical Superstructures

A good turn: Three compounds that bear two axially chiral bridged binaphthyl units were developed as photodynamic chiral dopants for nematic liquid crystals. For compounds with suitable bridge lengths, a change in the dihedral angle induced a switch of the binaphthyl units from the cisoid to the transoid form upon UV irradiation, which led to an inversion of the handedness of the helices.