ИСТИНА

Currently a new trend is formed in nanotechnology “bottom-up”: supramolecular engineering of supramolecular devices and machines for various purposes. The most convenient means for controlling supramolecular devices and machines is light, which can be easily adjusted both in the wavelength and in the amount. We propose a new unique class of polyfunctional photoactive compounds: unsaturated (polymethine) dyes functioning as photochromes, fluorophores and ionophores. A large body of research has been performed for their synthesis, determination of their spatial structures, study of self-assembly features to give supramolecular systems, and also study of fluorescent, photochemical and complexing properties. Resulting from the research, we elaborated for the first time universal supramolecular meccano, allowing one to accomplish building-up, with using a limited number of complementary compounds with participation of metal cations and hydrogen bonds, photoactive supramolecular structures of varied architecture with adjusted properties. Within the same class of compounds one can construct in solution, solid and at the air-water interface new types of photoswitchable supramolecular devices, photocontrolled supramolecular machines, photoactive monolayers and monocrystals susceptible to all of the key photoprocesses. The high practical value of these studies deserves attention. They provide a new strategy for the design of materials for supramolecular and nanophotonics, which was demonstrated, first of all, by the creation of practically important sensor and photochromic materials.