The demand for new materials for data storage devices has increased significantly in recent years. In particular, photoswitchable systems will have an essential impact on the construction of new memory devices. In this respect, thermally stable materials are desired to be implemented as device components. Here, hybrid systems consisting of a porous host and a photochromic molecule form the foundation for such composites. In this work, we present the first hybrid materials consisting of the photoswitchable fulgide Aberchrome 670 and porous metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) of varying polarity exhibiting P-type photochromism upon light irradiation. From a fundamental point of view, this MOF embedment further enabled to trace the IR signatures of both the initial and irradiated state of Aberchrome 670 under ambient conditions, which are in correspondence with the results obtained via quantum-chemical calculations. It is precisely in these points that the interface between basic and applied research demonstrates the importance of the switch@MOF research field.

Thiopurines are in widespread clinical use for the treatment of immunological disorders and certain cancers. However, treatment failure due to resistance or adverse drug reactions are common, asking for new therapeutic strategies. We investigated the potential of 6-thioguanosine monophosphate (6sGMP) prodrugs to overcome resistance to 6-thioguanine. We successfully developed synthetic routes toward diverse 6sGMP prodrugs, tested their proliferation inhibitory potential in different cell lines, and examined their mode of action. Our results show that 4-acetyloxybenzyl- and cycloSaligenyl-derivatized 6sGMP prodrugs are effective antiproliferative compounds in cells that are resistant to thiopurines. We find that resistance is related to the expression of salvage pathway enzyme HGPRT. Using TUC-seq DUAL, we demonstrate the intracellular conversion of 6sGMP prodrugs into bioactive 6sGTPs. Thus, our study offers a promising strategy for thiopurine therapy by using 6sGMP prodrugs, and it suggests TUC-seq DUAL as a simple and fast method to measure the success of thiopurine therapy.