A light switch for chemical reactions

Shedding a little light on certain starting materials can nudge them down one of two reaction pathways. Such a light switch could be used to get past the diffraction barrier to print tiny components on electronic circuits with nanometre resolution. Hannes Houck, Filip Du Prez, and Christopher Barner-Kowollik from the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Ghent University, have explored the possibility of a light switch for chemical reactions.