Photoswitching of Azobenzene-Based Reverse Micelles above and at Subzero Temperatures


Lenka Filipová,^1 Miriam Kohagen,^2 Peter Štacko,^ 1 Eva Muchová,^2 Petr Slavíček,^2 Petr Klán*^,1
                                                 ^

          ^1Department of Chemistry and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University,

           Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, ^2Department of Chemistry, University of Technology,

                                   Technická 5, 166 28 Praque 6


Recently, our group has examined the formation and physico-chemical properties of reverse micelles
in a ternary water/CTAB/chloroform-d system at room^1 and sub-zero temperatures.^2 The aim of this
new study was to create photoresponsible reverse micelles from amphiphilic molecules that contain
an azobenzene moiety and to study their properties when the N=N group undergoes a photoinduced E/Z
isomerization.

The first part of the talk is focused on a synthesis of photoresponsible amphiphiles and their
photochemical properties studied by NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Subsequently, the ability of
photoresponsive amphiphiles to form reverse micelles and determination of critical micelle
concentration will also be discussed.

In the second part, the influence of the E→Z photoisomerization and the corresponding reverse
thermal isomerization at different temperatures, and its effect on the character of reverse
micelles and encapsulated water, will be discussed. The experimental data and molecular dynamics
simulations results will be reviewed.^3


1. Klíčová Ľ., Šebej P., Štacko P., Filippov S. K., Bogomolova A., Padilla M., Klán P., Langmuir
2012, 28, 15185-15192.

2. Klíčová Ľ., Muchová E., Šebej P., Slavíček P., Klán P., Langmuir 2015, 31, 8284-8293.

3. Filipová L., Kohagen M., Štacko P., Muchová E., Slavíček P., Klán P., Langmuir 2017, 33,
2306-2317