Nucleosidic diarylethenes (DAEs) have evolved from an emerging class of photochromes into a well‐established option for integrating photochromic functionalities into biological systems. However, a comprehensive understanding of how chemical structure influences their photochromic properties remains essential. While structural features, such as an inverse connection between the aryl residues and the ethene bridge, are well‐documented for classical DAEs, their application to nucleosidic DAEs has been underexplored. In this study, we address this gap by developing three distinct types of inverse nucleosidic DAEs – semi‐inverse thiophenes, semi‐inverse uridines and inverse uridines. We successfully synthesized these compounds and conducted comprehensive analyses of their photostationary states, thermal stability, reversibility, and reaction quantum yields. Additionally, we conducted an in‐depth comparison of their photochromic properties with those of their normal‐type counterparts. Among the synthesized compounds, seven semi‐inverse thiophenes exhibited the most promising characteristics. Notably, these compounds demonstrated excellent fatigue resistance, with up to 96% retention of photochromic activity over 40 switching cycles, surpassing the performance of all comparable nucleosidic DAEs reported to date. These findings hold significant promise for future applications in various fields.

中文翻译：

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反型核苷二芳基乙烯光电开关的合成与开发


核苷二芳基乙烯（DAE）已从一类新兴的光致变色材料发展成为将光致变色功能集成到生物系统中的成熟选择。然而，全面了解化学结构如何影响其光致变色性能仍然至关重要。虽然经典 DAE 的结构特征（例如芳基残基和乙烯桥之间的反向连接）已得到充分记录，但它们在核苷 DAE 中的应用尚未得到充分探索。在本研究中，我们通过开发三种不同类型的反向核苷 DAE 来解决这一差距——半反向噻吩、半反向尿苷和反向尿苷。我们成功合成了这些化合物，并对它们的光稳态、热稳定性、可逆性和反应量子产率进行了全面分析。此外，我们还对它们的光致变色特性与普通型对应物进行了深入比较。在合成的化合物中，七种半反噻吩表现出最有前途的特性。值得注意的是，这些化合物表现出优异的抗疲劳性，在 40 个转换周期内光致变色活性保留率高达 96%，超越了迄今为止报道的所有类似核苷 DAE 的性能。这些发现为未来在各个领域的应用带来了巨大的希望。