Lighting the way to switch chemical reaction pathways

Could the manufacture of the integrated circuits and chips for our everyday electronic devices be made simpler, safer and cheaper simply by being able to switch coloured light on and off?. Researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT, Australia), Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Belgium's Ghent University have stepped towards this  by pioneering a system that modulates visible, coloured light to change the reactions of a powerful chemical coupling agent. Their findings have been published. Key points. Researchers used green laser light to control the reactivity of triazolinediones (TADs), coupling agents which  swiftly create bonds with other chemicals, necessary to make materials Under green light the TADs stopped reacting; when the light was switched off, the TADs became highly reactive again The light-switching process could be repeated multiple times The experiment showed two different products can be created from the same set-up simply by switching coloured light on and off   Professor Barner-Kowollik, from QUT's Science and Engineering Faculty, and Ghent University's Professor Filip Du Prez co-supervised the collaborative international research project. Lead author Hannes Houck is conducting PhD studies across the three partner institutions, supported by the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO). Professor Barner-Kowollik said the ability to use visible light as a remote-controlled on/off chemical reaction switch opened up possibilities for future industry applications in chemical and advanced manufacturing, including computer chip fabrication.