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Thermally Driven Polymorphic Transition Prompting a Naked‐Eye‐Detectable Bending and Straightening Motion of Single Crystals
Author(s) -
Shima Tatsuya,
Muraoka Takahiro,
Hoshino Norihisa,
Akutagawa Tomoyuki,
Kobayashi Yuka,
Kinbara Kazushi
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201402560
Subject(s) - naked eye , transition (genetics) , bending , motion (physics) , materials science , optics , crystallography , physics , chemistry , composite material , genetics , classical mechanics , biology , gene , fluorescence
The amplification of molecular motions so that they can be detected by the naked eye (10 7 ‐fold amplification from the ångström to the millimeter scale) is a challenging issue in the development of mechanical molecular devices. In this context, the perfectly ordered molecular alignment of the crystalline phase has advantages, as demonstrated by the macroscale mechanical motions of single crystals upon the photochemical transformation of molecules. In the course of our studies on thermoresponsive amphiphiles containing tetra(ethylene glycol) (TEG) moieties, we serendipitously found that thermal conformational changes of TEG units trigger a single‐crystal‐to‐single‐crystal polymorphic phase transition. The single crystal of the amphiphile undergoes bending and straightening motion during both heating and cooling processes at the phase‐transition temperatures. Thus, the thermally triggered conformational change of PEG units may have the advantage of inducing mechanical motion in bulk materials.