Nature effectively employs the light-induced transfer of a proton for rapid interconversion between different electronic states of a molecule and uses tautomerism as a functional design principle in biological systems. Twenty-five years ago, the theoretical design concept of proton cranes was introduced to describe molecules capable of transferring protons at a long-range upon photoexcitation, by […]
In the tautomeric Schiff bases, derived from 7-hydroxyquinoline, two competitive channels are possible upon excitation of the enol tautomer, namely proton transfer (PT) through intramolecular hydrogen bonding to the corresponding keto form and trans–cis isomerization around the azomethine double bond. The former leads to switching, based on twist-assisted excited state intramolecular PT, where the long-range […]