Photoresponsive Metal-Organic Cages

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anna McConnell
• Subject Area: Organic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation ; Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 413396832

Metal-organic cages have gained attention as molecular containers, encapsulating guest molecules with high affinity within their cavities. Inspired by the complexity and functionality of signalling pathways found in biological systems, there is growing interest in the design of stimuli-responsive cage systems with complex, non-linear responses to stimuli. Light is attractive as a stimulus since external reagents are not required to trigger the response, however, there are relatively few examples of light-responsive cages. In this project a light-responsive motif will be exploited in metal-organic cages for the first time in order to develop new light-responsive cages. Initial efforts will focus on the design of stimuli-responsive cages where the geometry change of the ligands following irradiation with light triggers guest release or uptake within the cage. This will provide the groundwork for the final objective of this project, the design of light-responsive cages with more complex, non-linear responses. Through these studies, a greater understanding of the factors governing complex, non-linear responses will be gained allowing the design of more complex stimuli responsive cage systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants