The Fe-coordination-induced dehydrogenation of indigo on silver transforms its central double bond into a single bond, providing an unprecedented pathway for the previously restricted rotation of the indole moieties. On Ag(111), we realized 1D coordination polymers of (trans-dehydroindigo : Fe) which were thermally switched to (cis-dehydroindigo : Fe) polymers.

On-Surface Isomerization of Indigo within 1D Coordination Polymers
H. Xu, R. Chakraborty, A. K. Adak, A. Das, B. Yang, D. Meier, A. Riss, J. Reichert, S. Narasimhan, J. V. Barth, and A. C. Papageorgiou
Angew. Chem. Int. Edit. (2024) eLocator: e202319162 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202319162