Molecular Switches
Beilstein Organic Chemistry Symposium 2014

The Beilstein Organic Chemistry Symposium 2014 is dedicated to "Molecular Switches" and will bring together ca. 50 experts in the field. It will be held September 24–26th, 2014 in Prien, Germany on the shores of lake Chiemsee. The meeting is intended to stimulate fruitful discussions between colleagues that focus on basic physical and chemical aspects of molecular switches and those who are primarily interested in their application in complex systems.

The symposium is organized by the Beilstein-Institut and has been inspired by the Thematic Series "Molecular switches and cages" published in the Open Access Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry and edited by Dirk Trauner.

Molecular switches toggle between two or more states that interact with their environment in different ways. As the chemistry of well-known representatives, such as azobenzene or diarylethenes, is refined and new types are discovered, molecular switches increasingly find useful applications in the materials sciences and in biology. The conference will cover a variety of aspects, including the synthesis of molecular switches, their (photo)physical characterization, their stability and reversibility,  their incorporation, spatial and temporal addressability, and their ability to control highly complex systems such as neural circuits, microbial societies, or the tracks and motors that underlie cellular migration and division. The question of how synthetic molecular switches relate to those found in biology will receive special attention at the conference.

I) New Photoswitches

Hydrazone-Based Switches
Ivan Aprahamian
Dartmouth College, USA

Hemithioindigo Phototools for Supramolecular Chemistry
Henry Dube
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

Macrocyclic Oligoazobenzene Switches
Hermann A. Wegner
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

Improving the Intrinsic Switching Performance of Photochromic Systems
Stefan Hecht
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany

II) Photoswitches and Nucleic Acids

Shedding Light on Nucleic Acids
Alexander Heckel
Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Synthesis of Spiropyrans and Diarylethenes as Molecular Switches for DNA
Hans-Achim Wagenknecht
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Germany

Exogenous Control of Biomolecule Function by Caged Aptamers
Günther Mayer
Universität Bonn, Germany

Nucleoside-based Diarylethene Photoswitches and Photoswitchable DNA
Andres Jäschke
Heidelberg University, Germany

III) Optical Control of Proteins and CarbohydrateS

Photochromic Enzyme Inhibitors based on Dithienylethenes
Burkhard König
Universität Regensburg, Germany

Designing Photoswitchable Proteins
G. Andrew Woolley
University of Toronto, Canada

Azobenzene Glycosides: A New Tool in the Glycosciences
Thisbe K. Lindhorst
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany

Making a Bionano Machine Stop and Go with Molecular Photoswitches
Nobuyuki Tamaoki
Hokkaido University, Japan

New Optical Switch Probes for High-contrast Imaging and Manipulation of Target Proteins, and Physicochemical Properties of the Stem Cell Micro-environment
Gerard Marriott
University of California, Berkeley, USA

IV) Optical Control and Imaging of Biological Systems

Synthetic Physiology: Optical Control of Cellular Signals
Harald Janoviak
Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Austria

Photoswitchable Molecular Magnets and their Application in Medical Imaging
Rainer Herges
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany

Photopharmacology and the Restoration of Vision
Dirk Trauner
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

Internal Chemistry of Microbial Rhodopsin
Peter Hegemann
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany

V) Materials and Motors

Light-triggered Azobenzenes: Rational Design for Responsive Materials
Dolores Velasco
Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

Photoswitches at Interfaces of Hybrid Materials
Karola Rück-Braun
Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

Multiple Stimuli Responsiveness of Spiropyran-Incorporating Nanoporous Frameworks
Rafal Klajn
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Dynamic Molecular Systems – from Molecular Switches to Molecular Motors
Ben L. Feringa
University of Groningen, The Netherlands