Speaker
Description
The man-made climate crisis is, irrefutably, one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Scientists across the entire globe and every research field have put forth possible solutions in an effort to mitigate its effects and slow its progress. The MOST concept, short for “Molecular Solar Thermal”, is focused on the development of organic photoswitches that transform into high-energy isomers upon irradiation. These thermally meta-stable (ideally long-lived) isomers, upon contact with specifically developed catalysts, return back into their initial lower energy states. The energy difference between the two isomers will be released in the form of heat, which is e.g. transferred into the water-circulation system of a building.
Figure 1: Schematic representation of the MOST concept.
The Wachtveitl Group, as part of the ForMOST research group (3), carries out not only the fundamental photophysical characterization of MOST compounds but also investigates ultrafast photoreactions using transient absorption spectroscopy (4–6). Here, we present insights into systematically substituted azobenzenes to highlight the design principles at the centre of efficient photoswitch design (manuscript in preparation).
References
1. B. Parida, S. Iniyan, R. Goic, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 15, 1625–1636 (2011).
2. D. Kim, K. K. Sakimoto, D. Hong, P. Yang, Angew Chem Int Ed. 54, 3259–3266 (2015).
3. H. A. Wegner et al., DFG Research Group 5499 - FORMOST. DFG-Forschungsgruppe FOR 5499, (available at https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/forschung/aktuell/formost). Last accessed: July 29, 2026
4. T. Saßmannshausen et al., Angew Chem Int Ed. 63, e202314112 (2024).
5. D. Sun et al., Chemistry A European J. 31, e01976 (2025).
6. S. M. Biebl et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 148, 10776–10787 (2026).
