Photoinduced curling of organic molecular crystal nanowires

Abstract

Molecular crystal nanowires composed of an anthracene-9-(1,3-butadiene) derivative exhibit a rapid transition from straight to highly coiled structures when exposed to a pulse of visible light. The curling does not depend on the direction of light illumination and occurs for nanowires composed of either the E or Z isomer. The shape change is driven by an EZ photoisomerization reaction that generates a mixture of isomers within a single nanowire. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.