redox switch

In chemistry, a redox switch is a molecular device, which has two subunits, a functional component and a control component. The "control subunit" is redox-active, meaning that it can exist in either of two redox states. The "functional" component could have a variety of readouts, such as fluorescence, the binding of a substrate, or catalytic activity. The key feature of such redox switches is that the functional component is influenced by the control subunit. One of many examples of a redox switch consists of an anthracene substituent to a copper-thiacrown ether (14-ane-4) coordination complex. When in the cupric oxidation state, the anthracene does not fluoresce. When in the cuprous state, the assembly is highly fluorescent.{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s40828-020-00119-6|title=The Ferrocenium/Ferrocene Couple: A Versatile Redox Switch |year=2020 |last1=Fabbrizzi |first1=Luigi |journal=Chemtexts |volume=6 |issue=4 |s2cid=222215803 |doi-access=free }} Several redox switches have been produced from ferrocenecarboxylic acid, which can be conjugated to a number of functional components. 1,1'-Diaminoferrocene has been incorporated into various diamide and diimine ligands, which form catalysts that exhibit redox switching.{{cite journal |doi=10.1021/ja505883u|title=Redox Control of Group 4 Metal Ring-Opening Polymerization Activity toward l-Lactide and ε-Caprolactone |year=2014 |last1=Wang |first1=Xinke |last2=Thevenon |first2=Arnaud |last3=Brosmer |first3=Jonathan L. |last4=Yu |first4=Insun |last5=Khan |first5=Saeed I. |last6=Mehrkhodavandi |first6=Parisa |last7=Diaconescu |first7=Paula L. |journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |volume=136 |issue=32 |pages=11264–11267 |pmid=25062499 |s2cid=22098566 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5hm8f76w |url-access=subscription }}