Photo-Responsive Soft Ionic Crystals: Ion-Pairing Assemblies of Azobenzene Carboxylates.

This report delineates the design and synthesis of negatively charged azobenzene derivatives that form photo-responsive ion-pairing assemblies. The azobenzene carboxylates possessing aliphatic chains were prepared as photo-responsive anions that promote the formation of ion-pairing dimension-controlled assemblies, including mesophases, when used in conjunction with a tetrabutylammonium (TBA) cation. The photo-responsive properties of the ion pairs and the precursory carboxylic acids in the bulk state were examined by polarized optical microscopy (POM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), demonstrating that liquid crystal (LC)-liquid and crystal-liquid phase transitions occurred, depending on the number and lengths of the aliphatic chains of each assembly. An ion pair exhibited photo-induced crystal-crystal phase transitions upon switching between two irradiation wavelengths (365/436 nm).