Azopyridine-based chiral oxazolines with rare-earth metals for photoswitchable catalysis.

An azopyridine-based oxazoline was developed for utilizing azo group coordination and isomerization as a photoswitchable ligand. The ligand coordinated to rare-earth metal (RE) catalyst underwent efficient E/Z photoisomerization, suggesting tri- and bidentate coordination switching. The photoisomerization of the ligand enabled modulation of the enantioselectivity of an RE-catalyzed aminal forming reaction.