Iminobispyrazole (IBP) photoswitches: two pyrazole rings can be better than one.

We recently demonstrated that suitably functionalised aryliminopyrazoles can exhibit useful photoswitching properties. This study investigates the photoswitching potential of iminobispyrazoles (IBPs). We find that the regiochemistry of the IBPs strongly dictates their photoswitching properties, most notably, the λ max , the photostationary state, and the thermal half-life of the Z -isomer.