Photo-switchable anion binding and catalysis with a visible light responsive halogen bonding receptor.

Photo-switchable receptors allow for photo-control over guest binding and release with spatial and temporal precision. Here we report the first halogen bonding photo-switchable anion receptors in which chloride binding may be reversibly modulated by irradiation with red and blue light, with over a 50-fold enhancement in chloride binding affinity observed for the Z isomer. We demonstrate that this switchable binding enables unprecedented photo-controlled catalysis of XB-mediated halide abstractions and a Mukaiyama Aldol reaction.