Concomitant Photoresponsive Chiroptics and Magnetism in Metal-Organic Frameworks at Room Temperature

Stimulus-responsive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be used for designing smart materials. Herein, we report a family of rationally designed MOFs which exhibit photoresponsive chiroptical and magnetic properties at room temperature. In this design, two specific nonphotochromic ligands are selected to construct enantiomeric MOFs, {Cu 2 (L-mal) 2 (bpy) 2 (H 2 O)·3H 2 O} n (1) and {Cu 2 (D-mal) 2 (bpy) 2 (H 2 O)·3H 2 O} n (2) ( mal = malate , bpy = 4 , 4 ’ − bipyridine ), which can alter their color, magnetism, and chiroptics concurrently in response to light. Upon UV or visible light irradiation, long-lived bpy − radicals are generated via photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from oxygen atoms of carboxylates and hydroxyl of malates to bpy ligands, giving rise to a 23.7% increase of magnetic susceptibility at room temperature. The participation of the chromophores (-OH and -COO − ) bound with the chiral carbon during the electron transfer process results in a small dipolar transition; thus, the Cotton effects of the enantiomers are weakened along with a photoinduced color change. This work demonstrates that the simultaneous responses of chirality, optics, and magnetism can be achieved in a single compound at room temperature and may open up a new pathway for designing chiral stimuli-responsive materials.