The Master and the Slave. A glance at the social life of molecules

Low energy interactions induce the formation of molecular assemblies that can display a large variety of sizes and shapes such as dimers, oligomers, colloids, gels, helices, cylinders, etc. These grouping modes mimic human relationships, as people generally flock together according to their affinities. Moreover, chemical reactions, undergone under strong energy interactions, that result in bond breaking and formation of new compounds, can also be compared to human behaviour. The fables usually involve animals but rarely molecules to play the role of human beings. In this article, we report a molecular tale where two different 9-substituted anthracene derivatives compete in a photochemical reaction, simulating the behaviour of a master and a slave, respectively