Light‐Induced Bending of Needle‐Like Crystals of Naphthylvinylbenzoxazole Triggered by trans–cis Isomerization |
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| Authors: | Jiang Peng Jinyu Zhao Dr. Kaiqi Ye Hongqiang Gao Dr. Jingbo Sun Prof. Ran Lu |
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| Affiliation: | State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, P.R. China |
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| Abstract: | New diarylethene derivatives containing benzoxazole ( NBO ) and benzothiazole ( NBT ) have been synthesized. Light‐induced trans–cis isomerization of NBO and NBT took place in crystals, and only induced the needle‐like crystals of NBO to bend backwards away from the UV light source. The movement of the atoms was deemed to take place during the isomerization of NBO ; hence, strain would be produced and accumulated rapidly in the surface of crystals exposed to UV light. The uniform release of strain led to the bending of needle‐like crystals. The light‐induced trans–cis isomerization efficiency of NBT was too low to drive the motion of crystals, which might have originated from the large repulsion between naphthyl and benzothiazole. These results provide a new platform for the transformation of light energy into mechanical energy in molecular crystals through the unimolecular photochemical reaction of diarylethene derivatives. |
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| Keywords: | crystal growth diarylethene derivatives isomerization mechanical properties photochemistry |
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