An Elastic Organic Crystal Enables Macroscopic Photoinduced Crystal Elongation
Journal
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Journal Volume
145
Journal Issue
11
Pages
6024
Date Issued
2023-03-22
Author(s)
Abstract
Among the various types of photomechanical deformations of organic crystals, photoinduced elongation of millimeter-scale crystals has yet to be demonstrated. Here we report that the millimeter-sized crystalline rods of an anthracene-pentiptycene hybrid organic π-system (1) are highly elastic and able to elongate up to 21.6% or 0.40 mm without fragmentation upon undergoing [4 + 4] photodimerization reactions. Both the mechanical and photomechanical effects reveal a strong cohesion of the system, even at the interface of 1 and its photodimer 2 and under the conditions of randomized molecular packing, representing a new class of mechanically adaptive organic crystals.
SDGs
Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
Type
journal article