Mechanical stimulation and solid seeding trigger single-crystal-to-single-crystal molecular domino transformations

Hajime Ito (), Mai Muromoto, Sayaka Kurenuma, Shoji Ishizaka, Noboru Kitamura, Hiroyasu Sato and Tomohiro Seki
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Hajime Ito: Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University
Mai Muromoto: Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University
Sayaka Kurenuma: Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University
Shoji Ishizaka: Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University
Noboru Kitamura: Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo
Hiroyasu Sato: Rigaku Corporation, Akishima
Tomohiro Seki: Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract 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’.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3009

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