This work presents a combined experimental and theoretical study on a photochromic compound, 2-([1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl)-2-methyl-6-(4-nitrophenyl)-4-phenyl-1,3 diazabicyclo [3.1.0]hex-3-ene, existing in closed form ('A') and open form ('B'). The spectroscopic properties of the title compound have been investigated by using IR, UV-Vis and 1 H NMR techniques. The molecular geometry and spectroscopic data of the title compound have been calculated by using the density functional method (B3LYP) invoking 6-311G(d,p) basis set. UV-Vis spectra of the two forms were recorded. The excitation energies, oscillator strength, etc., were calculated by time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). Furthermore, molecular electrostatic potential map (MEP), frontier molecular orbital analysis (HOMO-LUMO), total density of state (TDOS) and reactivity descriptors were found and discussed. We applied a first-principles computational approach to study a light-sensitive molecular switch. We find that the conductance of the two isomers varies dramatically, which suggests that this system has potential use as a molecular switch.

Co(II)-tetrasulfonated phthalocyanine (CoTSP) is known to be aggregated to dimer at high concentration levels in water. A study on the aggregation of CoTSP using multivariate curve resolution analysis of the visible absorbance spectra over a concentration range of 30, 40 and 50 µM in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethyl formamide (DMF), acetonitrile (AN) and ethanol (EtOH) in the concentration range of 0 to 3.57 M is conducted. A hard modeling-based multivariate curve resolution method was applied to determine the dissociation constants of the CoTSP aggregates at various temperatures ranging from 25, 45 and 65°C and in the presence of various co-solvents. Dissociation constant for aggregation was increased and then decrease by temperature and concentration of phthalocyanine, respectively. Utilizing the vant Hoff relation, the enthalpy and entropy of the dissociation equilibriums were calculated. For the dissociation of both aggregates, the enthalpy and entropy changes were positive and negative, respectively. Molecular dynamics simulation of cosolvent effect on CoTSP aggregation was done to confirm spectroscopy results. Results of radial distribution function (RDF), root mean square deviation (RMSD) and distance curves confirmed more effect of polar solvent to decrease monomer formation.