Controllable photomechanical bending of metal-organic rotaxane crystals facilitated by regioselective confined-space photodimerization

Abstract

The preparation of materials that display macro-mechanical responses to external stimuli is challenging. Here, the authors synthesize metal-organic rotaxane frameworks that contain photoactive axles as linkers; light irradiation triggers photodimerization of the ligands, which leads to macroscopic photomechanical bending of individual bulk crystals.