Absolute asymmetric photocyclization in chiral diarylethene co-crystals with octafluoronaphthalene

摘要

A photochromic diarylethene containing naphthyl groups formed a chiral crystal when co-crystallized with octafluoro-naphthalene, although both molecules are achiral, and underwent highly enantioselective photocyclization owing to the conformational confinement in the crystal. Absolute asymmetric reactions in chiral crystals spontaneously formed from achiral molecules in the absence of any external dissymmetric influence are of great interest in the field of solid-state photochemistry.