Polyoxometalate Assemblies: Photo‐Responsive Self‐Assembly of an Azobenzene‐Ended Surfactant‐Encapsulated Polyoxometalate Complex for Modulating Catalytic Reactions (Small 20/2012)

L. Wu and co-workers discover on page 3105 that the smart assembly and disassembly of an azobenzeneended surfactant-encapsulated polyoxometalate (Azo-SEP) complex upon light irradiation are driven by the photoisomerizationinduced polarity change of peripheric Azo groups (Yellow sphere: trans-Azo-SEP; Brown sphere: cis-Azo-SEP). These reversible activities perform oppositely in strongly (light yellow) and weakly (light blue) polar solvents. Effcient control over polyoxometalate-catalyzed oxidation reactions through modulating the catalytic activity of Azo-SEP can be carried out during the shuttle change of the assembly and disassembly. The present investigation provides a general strategy for manipulating the catalytic process of polyoxometalates and similar systems.