Photocontrol of a piperidine's Brønsted basicity was achieved by incorporation of a bulky azobenzene group and could be translated into pronounced reactivity differences between ON- and OFF-states in general base catalysis. This enabled successful photomodulation of the catalyst's activity in the nitroaldol reaction (Henry reaction). A modular synthetic route to the photoswitchable catalysts wa...

1 Department of Biostatistics and Research Epidemiology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI. 2 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center in Molecular and Cellular Toxicology with Human Applications, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. 3 Section of Allergy-Immunology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA. 4 Section of Allergy and Immunology, Division of Pulmonary, Critica...