Photoinduction and control of the supramolecular chirality in liquid crystalline azomaterials

Liquid crystals (LC) containing azobenzene moieties are materials of interest in different optical technologies. Applications of azomaterials derived from the capability of reversible isomerization between the E- and Z-configurations. Among the different applications reported so far, photoinduction or chirality deserves to be studied in details as can provide, e.g., new chiroptical switches and molecular rotors based on achiral compounds. Here, we review our recent work on the formation, manipulation and control of the chiral supramolecular organization of LC azomaterials using circular polarized light as the chiral stimulus.