The non-zwitterionic merocyanine derivative 2MeMC is a photoswitch with outstanding photoisomerization efficiency, photostability, especially in protic environment, and high switching rates, whose ring closure reaction to the spiropyran is inhibited by methylation of the phenolate oxygen. Ultrafast spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations reveal the photoisomerization mechanism of this trans(TTT)-cis (CCT)-only merocyanine.

Abstract

Merocyanines (MC) usually adopt ring opened zwitterionic structures that are interconvertible with their ring-closed spiropyran photoisomers. By methylating the phenolate oxygen, and thereby blocking the ring-closure reaction, a cis/trans-only MC photoswitch was obtained, yielding a perfect candidate for a detailed examination of the cis/trans isomerization mechanism for this class of compounds. This photoswitch displays outstanding properties including excellent photoreaction quantum yields and photoswitching turnovers. Due to the central polymethine bridge of MC, in principle eight cis (C)/trans/(T) isomers are possible. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations revealed the CCT and TTT-isomers of the studied compound as most stable cis and trans ground state isomers, respectively. UV/vis transient absorption studies combined with conical intersection computations with the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method show that both trans/cis- and cis/trans-photoisomerizations are initiated by a rotation of the central doubled bond fragment. A hot ground state species is then formed, which undergoes a second isomerization. Thus, the cis/trans reaction proceeds via a CCT-CTT-TTT sequence and the reverse reaction via TTT-TCT-CCT.