Photocontrol of Anion Binding Affinity to a Bis-urea Receptor Derived from Stiff-Stilbene

Toward the development of photoresponsive anion receptors, a stiff-stilbene photoswitch has been equipped with two urea anion-binding motifs. Photoinduced E/Z isomerization has been studied in detail by UV–vis and NMR spectroscopy. Titration experiments (1H NMR) reveal strong binding of acetate and phosphate to the (Z)-isomer, in which the urea groups are closely together. Isomerization to the (E)-form separates the urea motifs, resulting in much weaker binding. Additionally, geometry optimizations by density functional theory (DFT) illustrate that oxo-anion binding to the (Z)-form involves four hydrogen bonds.