Photoresponse of an aqueous two-phase system composed of photochromic dextran

A novel aqueous two-phase system, which exhibits a reversible photoinduced phase separation, has been developed with photochromic dextran synthesized by substituting 0.3 mol % of the hydroxyl groups with the photochromic chromophore, 6-nitrospiropyran (NSp). For an aqueous solution containing this photochromic dextran and poly(ethylene glycol), it was observed that the solution, which had been uniform in the dark, quickly separated into two phases through blue light irradiation within 1 min and returned to the former uniform state spontaneously after heating at 50 degrees C for 1 h. Photoisomerization of NSp was confirmed to shift the phase separation temperature of this aqueous two-phase system by up to 30 degrees C.