Multiaddressable Photochromic Architectures: From Molecules to Materials

Multiaddressable architectures comprising light‐responsive photochromic molecules and different stimuli‐responsive components are appealing platforms for intelligent materials because of not only the potential diversity of components and corresponding properties, but also the functions resulting from their synergistic interactions. A variety of multiaddressable photochromic architectures are being designed to meet the demands of applications in different areas ranging from molecular machines to smart materials. This review highlights exciting recent advances in the field of multiaddressable systems that employ photoswitching molecules, specifically with regard to photo‐/chemical‐addressable, photo‐/pH‐addressable, photo‐/thermal‐addressable, photo‐/redox‐addressable, and multi‐photoaddressable architectures. Design concepts, crosstalk between different components, and photoswitch integration in these multiaddressable systems are discussed. This review highlights recent advances in the field of multiaddressable architectures that employ both a photoswitching entity with another stimuli responsive unit. These systems can achieve complex behavior in response to multiple stimuli and are thereby of great interest in a wide range of fields.