Photoresponsive Zn²⁺-specific metallohydrogels coassembled from imidazole containing phenylalanine and arylazopyrazole derivatives

Abstract

ions only. The presence of the AzoPz moiety in the gel matrix makes the metallogel coassemblies photoresponsive and the reversible gel-to-sol phase transition was studied by UV-vis spectroscopy. The gels showed a slow reversible light-induced gel-to-sol phase transition under UV (λ = 365 nm) and then sol-to-gel transition by green light (λ = 530) irradiation resulting in the reformation of the original gel state. The morphology and viscoelastic properties of the fibrillar opaque metallogels have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and rheological measurement, respectively.

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