Mechanical stimulation and solid seeding trigger single-crystal-to-single-crystal molecular domino transformations
Mechanical stimulation and solid seeding trigger single-crystal-to-single-crystal molecular domino transformations
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DOI：
10.1038/ncomms3009
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发表时间：
2013-06-01
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Seki, Tomohiro
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ito, Hajime;Muromoto, Mai;Seki, Tomohiro
许多研究集中在固体结构的机械控制和分子晶体中的相变。然而，对宏观力如何影响固体中的分子的分子水平的理解仍然不完整。在这里，我们报告说，一个小的机械刺激或固体播种可以触发从一个动力学分离的多晶型的苯基（苯基异氰化物）金（I）表现出蓝色光致发光的单晶到单晶的转变，一个稳定的多晶型的黄色发光，而不需要加热或溶剂。相变在机械刺激或晶种的位置处开始，延伸到相邻的晶体，并且可以通过伴随的从蓝色到黄色的光致发光颜色变化而容易地视觉监测。使用单晶X-射线分析表征该转化。我们的研究结果表明，转换通过自我复制进行，导致复杂的行为作为“分子多米诺骨牌”。
Numerous studies have focused on the mechanical control of solid structures and phase changes in molecular crystals. However, the molecular-level understanding of how macroscopic forces affect the molecules in a solid remains incomplete. Here we report that a small mechanical stimulus or solid seeding can trigger a single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation from a kinetically isolated polymorph of phenyl(phenyl isocyanide) gold(I) exhibiting blue photoluminescence to a thermodynamically stable polymorph exhibiting yellow emission without the need for heating or solvent. The phase transformation initiates at the location of the mechanical stimulation or seed crystal, extends to adjacent crystals, and can be readily monitored visually by the accompanying photoluminescent colour change from blue to yellow. The transformation was characterized using single crystal X-ray analysis. Our results suggest that the transformation proceeds through self-replication, causing the complex to behave as 'molecular dominoes'.