The development of an easily synthesized, modular, and tunable organic photoswitch that responds to visible light has been a long-standing pursuit. Herein we provide a detailed account of the design and synthesis of a new class of photochromes based on furfural, termed donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASAs). A wide variety of these derivatives are easily prepared from commercially available starting materials, and their photophysical properties are shown to be dependent on the substituents of the push-pull system. Analysis of the switching behavior provides conditions to access the two structural isomers of the DASAs, reversibly switch between them, and use their unique solubility behavior to provide dynamic phase-transfer materials. Overall, these negative photochromes respond to visible light and heat and display an unprecedented level of structural modularity and tunabilty.

A versatile new class of organic photochromic molecules that offers an unprecedented combination of physical properties including tunable photoswitching using visible light, excellent fatigue resistance, and large polarity changes is described. These unique features offer significant opportunities in diverse fields ranging from biosensors to targeted delivery systems while also allowing non-experts ready synthetic access to these materials.

Viruses have evolved specialized mechanisms to efficiently transport nucleic acids and other biomolecules into specific host cells. They achieve this by performing a coordinated series of complex functions, resulting in delivery that is far more efficient than existing synthetic delivery mechanisms. Inspired by these natural systems, we describe a process for synthesizing chemically defined molecular constructs that likewise achieve targeted delivery through a series of coordinated functions. We employ an efficient "click chemistry" technique to synthesize aptamer-polymer hybrids (APHs), coupling cell-targeting aptamers to block copolymers that secure a therapeutic payload in an inactive state. Upon recognizing the targeted cell-surface marker, the APH enters the host cell via endocytosis, at which point the payload is triggered to be released into the cytoplasm. After visualizing this process with coumarin dye, we demonstrate targeted killing of tumor cells with doxorubicin. Importantly, this process can be generalized to yield APHs that specifically target different surface markers.