Abstract
Photoisomerization of azobenzene is a reversible photochemical reaction and has potential applications to reusable photo-functional materials. Azobenzenophane (macrocyclic azobenzene), possessing multiple azobenzene moieties in a macrocyclic molecular skeleton, have been of interest due to their unique strained structure, isomerization properties such as multi step isomerization, molecular motion, and potential application to photoresponsive materials. In this paper, from the viewpoint of material applications, physical and photochemical properties of azobenzenophane are reviewed and the uniqueness arising from the cyclic molecular structure is discussed.
