Publications by Cristian Pezzato

Controlling DNA nanodevices with light-switchable buffers

Cristian Pezzato, Valentin Jean Périllat, Cesare Berton

Control over synthetic DNA-based nanodevices can be achieved with a variety of physical and chemical stimuli. Actuation with light, however, is as advantageous as difficult to implement without modifying DNA strands with photo-switchable groups. Herein, we ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2023

An electric molecular motor

Cristian Pezzato

Macroscopic electric motors continue to have a large impact on almost every aspect of modern society. Consequently, the effort towards developing molecular motors(1-3) that can be driven by electricity could not be more timely. Here we describe an electric ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2023

Photoacidity of Indolinospirobenzopyrans in Water

Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton

The reversible isomerism of indolinospirobenzopyrans is perhaps among the most studied phenomena in the field of molecular switches. Although they began to gain attention as early as 70 years ago following the seminal work of Hirshberg and Fischer, who wer ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2023

The effect of temperature on the photoacidity of merocyanine photoacids in water

Cristian Pezzato, Valentin Jean Périllat, Cesare Berton

Merocyanine photoacids are molecular photoswitches that can be used to regulate acid-base reactions reversibly. Despite their growing impact across multiple research areas including materials science and nanotechnology, the effect of temperature on their f ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2022

Correction: Light-induced assembly and disassembly of polymers with PdnL2n-type network junctions

Kay Severin, Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton, Rujin Li

Correction for 'Light-induced assembly and disassembly of polymers with PdnL2n-type network junctions' by Ru-Jin Li et al., Chem. Sci., 2021, DOI: ; 10.1039/d1sc00127b. ...

2021

Light-induced assembly and disassembly of polymers with PdnL2n-type network junctions

Kay Severin, Cristian Pezzato, Cesare Berton, Rujin Li

Polymers containing PdnL2n complexes as network junctions were obtained by reaction of poly(ethylene glycol)-linked N-donor ligands with Pd2+. The addition of a metastable state photoacid renders the networks light sensitive, and gel–sol transitions can be ...

2021

Light‐switchable buffers

Kay Severin, Rosario Scopelliti, Cristian Pezzato, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Stefano Zamuner, Cesare Berton, Daniel Maria Busiello

A visible light-switchable buffer system based on a protonated merocyanine photoacid is presented. Para -substitution of the indolium side with a methoxy group affords a compound suitable for making hydrolytically stable aqueous buffers whose pH can be tun ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2021

A precise polyrotaxane synthesizer

Bo Song, Cristian Pezzato

Mechanically interlocked molecules are likely candidates for the design and synthesis of artificial molecular machines. Although polyrotaxanes have already found niche applications in exotic materials with specialized mechanical properties, efficient synth ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science2020

Non-equilibrium kinetics and trajectory thermodynamics of synthetic molecular pumps

Cristian Pezzato

A major goal in the design of synthetic molecular machines is the creation of pumps that can use the input of energy to transport material from a reservoir at low chemical potential to a different reservoir at higher chemical potential, thereby forming and ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2020

Thermodynamics and kinetics of protonated merocyanine photoacids in water

Kay Severin, Rosario Scopelliti, Euro Solari, Cristian Pezzato, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Stefano Zamuner, Cesare Berton, Daniel Maria Busiello

Metastable-state photoacids (mPAHs) are chemical species whose photo-activated state is long-lived enough to allow for proton diffusion. Liao's photoacid (1) represents the archetype of mPAHs, and is being widely used on account of its unique capability to ...

2020

SET processes in Lewis acid–base reactions: the tritylation of N-heterocyclic carbenes

Andrzej Sienkiewicz, Kay Severin, Rosario Scopelliti, Cristian Pezzato, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Zhaowen Dong

Reactions between N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and the trityl cation, [Ph3C]+, give covalent adducts of type [NHC–CPh3]+ and/or [NHC–C6H5–CPh2]+. EPR spectroscopy, UV-Vis analyses, and trapping experiments imply that adduct formation involves carbene rad ...

2020

A Molecular Dual Pump

Cristian Pezzato

Artificial molecular machines (AMMs) built from mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs) can use energy ratchets to control the unidirectional motion of their component parts. These energy ratchets are operated by the alteration of kinetic barriers and th ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2019