A bimetallic dodecaborate LiNaB₁₂H₁₂ has been successfully synthesized for the first time, through a sintering process of LiBH₄, NaBH₄ and B₁₀H₁₄. LiNaB₁₂H₁₂ has a cubic Pa-3 space group symmetry at room temperature, and transforms into a high temperature phase with Fm-3m symmetry at 488 K, which is lower than that of Li₂B₁₂H₁₂ and Na₂B₁₂H₁₂. The ionic conductivity at 550 K reaches 0.79 S/cm, which is approximately 8 times higher than that of Na₂B₁₂H₁₂ and 11 times higher than that of Li₂B₁₂H₁₂. The Li/Na compositional and thus an induced positional disorder in LiNaB₁₂H₁₂ are suggested to be responsible for the reduced phase transition temperature and the improved super ionic conductivity compared to its monometallic counterparts.

Two benzodifuran (BDF)-coupled spiropyran (SP) systems and their BDF reference compounds were obtained in good yields through Huisgen–Meldal–Sharpless “click� chemistry and then subjected to investigation of their electrochemical and photophysical properties. In both SP and merocyanine (MC) forms of the coupled molecules, the BDF-based emission is quenched to around 1 % of the quantum yield of emission from the BDF reference compounds. Based on electrochemical data, this quenching is attributed to oxidative electron-transfer quenching. Irradiation at 366 nm results in ring opening to the MC forms of the BDF-coupled SP compounds and the SP reference compound with a quantum efficiency of about 50 %. The rate constants for the thermal ring closing are approximately 3.4×10^−3 s^−1. However, in the photostationary states the MC fractions of the coupled molecules are substantially lower than that of the reference SP compound, attributed to the observed acceleration of the ring-closing reaction upon irradiation. As irradiation at 366 nm invariably also excites higher-energy transitions of the BDF units in the coupled compounds, the ring-opening reaction is accelerated relative to the SP reference, which results in lower MC fractions in the photostationary state. Reversible photochromism of these BDF-coupled SP compounds renders them promising in the field of molecular switches.