The light-driven switching of these dendrimers was firstly studied by
1H and
31P NMR spectroscopy. Again,
G1 was selected as a representative to illustrate such light-driving switching process. When the solution of
G1 in CH
2Cl
2 (1.2 × 10
‒4 mol/L) was irradiated with UV light at 365 nm, the
1H NMR spectral signals at
δ 6.78 for H
4 and 7.31 for H
3 are gradually weakened and finally disappeared, where two new signals at
δ 6.07 for H
4 and 6.50 for H
3 are increasingly enhanced due to the photocyclization reaction
G1o →
G1c. The loss of aromaticity of the thiophene heterocycles in the photocyclization reaction leads to this characteristic upfield. The signals of the -CH
3 proton of
G1o are observed at
δ 2.02 (H
5) and 1.91 (H
6). Upon irradiation of
G1o under UV light at 365 nm, the two signals are gradually attenuated and finally vanished with the occurrence of two new CH
3 signals at
δ 2.19 (H
5) and 2.18 (H
6). The similar results were observed in the case of
G2 and
G3. It should be noted that, in the more complex case of
G3, the signals at
δ 7.27, 7.28 and 7.30 that are assigned to the protons of three layered thiophene heterocycles shift upfield to the signals at
δ 6.46 and 6.45, which are assigned to the ring-closed inner two and outer DTE units with the integral ratio 3:4 ((3 + 6): 12). The photochromic reaction
G1o →
G1c has been also supported by
31P NMR spectroscopy. When a CH
2Cl
2 solution of
G1o is irradiated at 365 nm, the phosphorus signal at
δ 11.51 decreases gradually and finally vanishes, whereas a new broad phosphorous signal is observed at
δ 11.90. It reveals that
G1o is converted to
G1c quickly upon irradiation at 365 nm and the single ring-closed intermediate did not appear. At the photostationary state (PSS), the integral ratio of phosphorous signals between
G1o and
G1c suggest the presence of
ca. 95% of
G1c and 5% of
G1o. The transformation behavior induced by light irradiation of
Gn was further investigated by UV–vis techniques (
Figs. 3a and
b). The absorption spectrum of
G3 (in CH
2Cl
2 at 298 K) exhibits an intense band in the near-UV region (
ca. 330 nm) with the weaker transition at higher energy (
ca. 275 nm). Upon irradiation at 365 nm, the colourless solution of
G3 quickly turns to blue (insert in
Fig. 3a). Notably, two new absorption bands at 390 and 637 nm are observed in the visible region along with a well-defined isosbestic point at 374 nm arising from the corresponding ring-closed photostationary state (PSS) of
G3 via the typical photocyclization. During light irradiation, the UV–vis changes are simple and clean with a well-defined isosbestic point, which provides evidence for the existence of only two light-absorbing components. This means that each photochromic unit is isolated from the others [
33,
37]. According to the previous study on DTE-based systems, the low energy absorption is attributed to the
π-conjugation delocalizing throughout the DTE ligands due to the formation of ring-closed form, then leading to the decrease of HOMO-LUMO gap. Similarly, UV irradiation of
G1 or
G2 at 365 nm in CH
2Cl
2 results in the ring-closed PSS of
G1 or
G2, respectively, accompanied by a color change from colourless to blue along with the formation of two intense absorption bands at 390 and 637 nm. Moreover, the photoisomerization between the ring-open and ring-closed forms of the dithienylethene moieties could be repeated more than ten times (
Fig. 3c). The dendrimer
G1 exhibits an irreversible Pt-based oxidation wave at 1.21 V together with an irreversible DTE-centered wave at 1.11 V (
Fig. 3d). Upon irradiation of
G1 at 365 nm to the PSS, the oxidation potentials of both Pt- and DTE-centered waves are distinctly less anodic because of the enhanced
π-electron density with photocyclization at both DTE units. Particularly, the presence of two successive DTE-based oxidation waves at 0.78 V and 1.05 V for
G1c suggests that the moderate electron interaction is likely mediated between the ring-closed DTE units across the
trans-Pt(PEt
3)
2 spacer [
61].