We are interested in the reactions of substrates following optical excitation . Drastic changes of molecular properties may be useful to govern binding properties within supramolecular systems in response to an external stimulus such as light or electrons. Therefore, the synthesis of supramolecules such as macrocycles, catenanes and rotaxanes incorporating light or electroactive subunits is one important part of our research program.
Reactive intermediates are acylnitrenes, radicals and cations.
The bond fission can be achieved by the optical excitation of the substrates or via photo-induced electron transfer. Acylnitrenes are used to synthesise heterocyclic compounds and to transfer properties inherently connected with the nitrenes to other molecules. Drastic changes of molecular properties are achieved by the transformation of cycloheptatrienes into tropylium cations . This transformation can be carried out by direct optical excitation and by photoinduced electron transfer. Molecular modeling supports the design of the supramolecular systems.