We demonstrate two distinct photomechanical responses (i.e. photomechanical bending and photosalient bursting) of two new 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid derivative crystals based on tailoring their substituents and the modulation of their spacers.
We have demonstrated the ability to modify the mechanical flexibility of molecular crystals by modulating the length of intervening linker moieties while keeping the terminal shape synthons the same.