The Vibrant Interplay of Light and Self-Reporting Macromolecular Architectures

Inspired by nature, notable efforts have been made towards the exploration of self-reporting polymers within the last decades. Whereas the majority of the previously reported self-reporting polymers deliberately relies on a diverse set of mechanisms triggered via different stimuli (e.g., mechanical, thermal, pH, solvation, light, and chemical amongst others), light plays a ubiquitous role not only as a remote trigger, but also as non-destructive readout signal for the practical applications of self-reporting polymers. Due to the ever-growing interest within the respective field (e.g., load bearing materials, nanotechnology, biomedicine, or theranostics), herein a synthetic overview is presented with the aim to provide an informative perspective on challenges facing the vibrant interplay of light and self-reporting macromolecular architectures.