TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanns, Volker A1 - Scheurer, Maximilian A1 - Kersten, Nils Frederik A1 - Abdellaoui, Chahinez A1 - Wachtveitl, Josef A1 - Dreuw, Andreas A1 - Heckel, Alexander T1 - Rethinking uncaging: a new antiaromatic photocage driven by a gain of resonance energy T2 - Chemistry - a European journal N2 - Photoactivatable compounds for example photoswitches or photolabile protecting groups (PPGs, photocages) for spatiotemporal light control, play a crucial role in different areas of research. For each application, parameters such as the absorption spectrum, solubility in the respective media and/or photochemical quantum yields for several competing processes need to be optimized. The design of new photochemical tools therefore remains an important task. In this study, we exploited the concept of excited-state-aromaticity, first described by N. Colin Baird in 1971, to investigate a new class of photocages, based on cyclic, ground-state-antiaromatic systems. Several thio- and nitrogen-functionalized compounds were synthesized, photochemically characterized and further optimized, supported by quantum chemical calculations. After choosing the optimal scaffold, which shows an excellent uncaging quantum yield of 28 %, we achieved a bathochromic shift of over 100 nm, resulting in a robust, well accessible, visible light absorbing, compact new photocage with a clean photoreaction and a high quantum product (ϵ⋅Φ) of 893 M−1 cm−1 at 405 nm. KW - Baird's rule KW - excited state aromaticity KW - photochemistry KW - photolabile protecting groups KW - substituent effects Y1 - 2021 UR - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/62650 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-626506 SN - 1521-3765 N1 - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Grant Number: GRK 1886. Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. N1 - Early View: Online Version before inclusion in an issue N1 - Version of Record: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-644951 VL - 27 IS - online version before inclusion in an issue SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER -