ABSTRACT:Vinyl polymers having pendant 3,3'-substituted azobenzene were synthesized. Selective metal extracting ability was found in the photoisomerized polymers having bisiminodiacetic acid groups. The selectivity was large in the azobenzene with directly connected imino-groups rather than those having the methylene chain spacers between the rings and imino-groups. The metal coordination was not strong, so that the complexed cis-isomer thermally recovered to the trans one. The reversible transformation suggests possible applications for photo regulated macromolecular ionophores.KEY WORDS Azobenzene Polymer / Photoisomerization / Metal Extraction / Photo regulated Macromolecular Ionophore / Azobenzene and many of its derivatives exhibit large confomational change by reversible trans-cis transformation. A number of polymers having azobenzene moieties have been synthesized and their photo-induced isomerization has received much attention for functions as photoresponsive polymer, including the change of viscosity, pH, conductivity, solubility, wettability, and mechanical properties. 1 Recently some azobenzene derivatives having two iminodiacetic acid groups2,3 and a variety of crown ethers 4 at both 4,4' -position have been synthesized to mimic the behavior of reversible ion binding affinity in biological systems; their ion binding properties have been controlled by photo-induced trans-cis isomerization.The authors have been interested in the synthesis of vinyl polymers having azobenzene moieteis with ionic metal binding sites and the behavior of their metal extracting ability. The rate of isomerization is reduced if a substituent group at 2-and/or 4-position would contribute to the resonance stabilization of azidostructures and if a proton donating groups at 2-position would make hydrogen bonds with adjacent azo-group.5,6 In order to enhance the reversible trans-cis transformation, metal binding ligands are connected at the 3-position of both phenyl rings in spite of two substituent groups existing in anti-and syn-configuration on azobenzene rings. The distance between two carbons at 3,3'-position of non planar cisisomer is below 5 A. 7 Therefore two substituent groups become feasible to interact each other compared with those in trans-isomer and 4,4'-ones in cis-azobenzene. However, two ligands in the cis-isomer should moderately bind with metal ions, because the very stable complex stabilizes the cis-form and can not release the ion efficiently on the reverse transformation. We thus synthesized low molecular weight compounds designed by a space filling molecular model, in which for the cis-isomer the negatively charged oxygen ligands could be brought close to metal ions enough to bind intramoleclarly. However, this binding is not possible or much weaker in the planar trans-form.The low molecular weight azo-compounds 127