Fast isomerizing methyl iodide azopyridinium salts for molecular switches

Abstract

The usefulness of azopyridinium methyl iodide salts for designing new promising light-controlled molecular switches is presented. Large absorbance changes have been produced in the samples by irradiation with light at λ ) 355 nm. The thermal recovery of the initial state took place completely within 130-450 ms, which is much faster than that reported previously for other push-pull azobenzene-doped nematic mixtures.