Ion-induced cycle opening of a diarylethene and its application on visual detection of Cu²⁺ and Hg²⁺ and keypad lock

Abstract

Only the closed form of the diarylethene reported here can combine with the metal ions, meanwhile the coordination would surprisingly induce cycle opening of photochromic unit and color bleaching process. These properties can be applied in detection of Cu²⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions and single molecular keypad lock.