Phenylhydrazones of piperidin-4-ones as AND, OR, NOR, NAND, and INH molecular logic gates.

Phenylhydrazone derivatives of 2,6-diarylpiperidin-4-ones viz., 3-methyl-2,6-diphenylpiperidin-4-one (PMP-PH) and 3-methyl-2,6-di-(9H-fluorenyl)piperidin-4-one (FMP-PH) when illuminated and protonated perform the functions of AND, OR, NOR, NAND Boolean logic gates with all optical outputs. The functions of the AND and the NAND gates rely on changes in absorption and emission of the phenylhydrazone upon isomerization of the photochromic unit. We report novel heterocyclic compounds where setting up of threshold absorption or emission can be made as a logic device.