Effects of a self-assembled molecular capsule on the ultrafast photodynamics of a photochromic salicylideneaniline guest

Selective and slow: The effects on the photophysics of a single salicylideneaniline molecule, induced by confinement in an all-organic, weakly interacting molecular capsule of a matching size, are studied by time-resolved spectroscopy. The capsule acts efficiently to select only one deactivation pathway after photoexcitation and keeps the photochromism in the solid state with a 300-fold retardation-relative to the solution state-in the decay time of the photochromic product (see picture).