FRET-Mediated Photoswitchable Catalytic Metallacage with Tunable Activity for Organic Dye Degradation

Photoswitchable catalysts provide a versatile strategy for controlling catalytic activities through light stimuli, presenting significant potential for the precise regulation of synthetic transformations. Herein, we successfully synthesized a novel photoswitchable catalytic metallacage MC from meso-tetra-(2-pyridyl)-porphines (TPP) and Pt(II)-bisthienylethene (DTE-1) via coordination-driven self-assembly. The Pt(II)-bisthienylethene ligand within the metallacage exhibits a reversible conversion between its ring-opened and ring-closed isomers upon alternating UV and visible radiation, facilitating photoswitchable Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) in MC systems. Notably, the two forms of the metallacage exhibit switchable performance between highly and poorly catalytical activity for the degradation of Rhodamine B. This work not only develops a novel metallacage-based photoswitchable FRET system but also provides a new avenue for constructing artificial photoregulated enzymes.