Azobenzene is a photoswitchable chemical compound composed of two phenyl rings linked by a N=N double bond. It is the simplest example of an aryl azo compound. The term 'azobenzene' or simply 'azo' is often used to refer to a wide class of similar compounds. These azo compounds are considered as derivatives of diazene (diimide), and are sometimes referred to as 'diazenes'. The diazenes absorb light strongly and are common dyes. Structure and synthesis trans-Azobenzene is planar. The N-N distance is 1.189 Å. cis-Azobenzene is nonplanar with a C-N=N-C dihedral angle of 173.5°. The N-N distance is 1.251 Å. Azobenzene was first described by Eilhard Mitscherlich in 1834. Yellowish-red crystalline flakes of azobenzene were obtained in 1856. Its original preparation is similar to the modern one. According to the 1856 method, nitrobenzene is reduced by iron filings in the presence of acetic acid. In the modern synthesis, zinc is the reductant in the presence of a base. Industrial electrosynthesis using nitrobenzene is also employed. The trans isomer is more stable by approximately 50 kJ/mol, and the barrier to isomerization in the ground state is approximately 100 kJ/mol. Reactions Azobenzene is a weak base, but undergoes protonation at one nitrogen with a pKa = -2.95. It functions as a Lewis base, e.g. toward boron trihalides. It binds to low valence metal centers, e.g. Ni(Ph2N2)(PPh3)2 is well characterized. It oxidizes to give azoxybenzene. Hydrogenation gives diphenylhydrazine. Trans–cis isomerization Azobenzene (and derivatives) undergo photoisomerization of trans and cis isomers. cis-Azobenzene relaxes back, in dark, to the trans isomer. Such thermal relaxation is slow at room temperature. The two isomers can be switched with particular wavelengths of light: ultraviolet light, which corresponds to the energy gap of the π-π* (S2 state) transition, for trans-to-cis conversion, and blue light, which is equivalent to that of the n-π* (S1 state) transition, for cis-to-trans isomerization. For a variety of reasons, the cis isomer is less stable than the trans (for instance, it has a distorted configuration and is less delocalized than the trans configuration). Photoisomerization allows for reversible energy storage (as photoswitches). Spectroscopic classification The wavelengths at which azobenzene isomerization occurs depends on the particular structure of each azo molecule, but they are typically grouped into three classes: the azobenzene-type molecules, the aminoazobenzenes, and the pseudo-stilbenes. These azos are yellow, orange, and red, respectively, owing to the subtle differences in their electronic absorption spectra. The compounds similar