Photochromic complex

In chemistry, a photochromic complex is a kind of chemical compound that has photoresponsive parts on its ligand.

These complexes have a specific structure: photoswitchable organic compounds are attached to metal complexes. For the photocontrollable parts, thermally and photochemically stable chromophores (azobenzene, diarylethene, spiropyran, etc.) are usually used. And for the metal complexes, a wide variety of compounds that have various functions (redox response, luminescence, magnetism, etc.) are applied.

The photochromic parts and metal parts are so close that they can affect each other's molecular orbitals. The physical properties of these compounds shown by parts of them (i.e., chromophores or metals) thus can be controlled by switching their other sites by external stimuli. For example, photoisomerization behaviors of some complexes can be switched by oxidation and reduction of their metal parts. Some other compounds can be changed in their luminescence behavior, magnetic interaction of metal sites, or stability of metal-to-ligand coordination by photoisomerization of their photochromic parts.