Molecular solar thermal energy storage in nitrone-oxaziridine pairs with widely tunable thermal half-lives.
- 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara CA USA [email protected].
- 2Research Center for Net Zero Carbon Society, Institute of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University Nagoya Japan.
Abstract
Oxaziridines have long been considered too unstable to isolate, as they are typically generated in situ and immediately consumed during synthesis. Here, we show that this instability can be controlled and harnessed, establishing nitrone-to-oxaziridine valence isomerization as a new platform for molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage. A series of para-substituted nitrones photoisomerize to isolable oxaziridines under UV-visible light (340 to 430 nm), with quantum yields reaching 49%. Substituent electronics tune the thermal half-lives of the oxaziridines by nearly four orders of magnitude, from 17 hours to 10 years, while the energy storage density stays nearly constant at 0.3 MJ kg⁻¹. This decoupling of storage density from thermal stability is uncommon among MOST systems, where extending the half-life usually comes at the cost of stored energy. The nitrones also isomerize efficiently under solvent-free conditions and under simulated sunlight and withstand repeated charge and discharge cycling with minimal loss, positioning nitrone-oxaziridine pairs as a structurally distinct and highly tunable addition to the MOST toolbox.
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BibTeX
@article{chakraborty2026molecular,
title = {{Molecular solar thermal energy storage in nitrone-oxaziridine pairs with widely tunable thermal half-lives.}},
author = {Subhayan Chakraborty and Junichi Usuba and Ashley H Nguyen and Han P Q Nguyen and Grace G D Han},
journal = {Chemical science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6sc06724g},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42903596},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Molecular solar thermal energy storage in nitrone-oxaziridine pairs with widely tunable thermal half-lives.
AU - Subhayan Chakraborty
AU - Junichi Usuba
AU - Ashley H Nguyen
AU - Han P Q Nguyen
AU - Grace G D Han
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
JO - Chemical science
DO - 10.1039/d6sc06724g
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42903596
AB - Oxaziridines have long been considered too unstable to isolate, as they are typically generated in situ and immediately consumed during synthesis. Here, we show that this instability can be controlled and harnessed, establishing nitrone-to-oxaziridine valence isomerization as a new platform for molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage. A series of para-substituted nitrones photoisomerize to isolable oxaziridines under UV-visible light (340 to 430 nm), with quantum yields reaching 49%. Substituent electronics tune the thermal half-lives of the oxaziridines by nearly four orders of magnitude, from 17 hours to 10 years, while the energy storage density stays nearly constant at 0.3 MJ kg⁻¹. This decoupling of storage density from thermal stability is uncommon among MOST systems, where extending the half-life usually comes at the cost of stored energy. The nitrones also isomerize efficiently under solvent-free conditions and under simulated sunlight and withstand repeated charge and discharge cycling with minimal loss, positioning nitrone-oxaziridine pairs as a structurally distinct and highly tunable addition to the MOST toolbox.
SN - 2041-6520
SN - 2041-6539
ER -