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Crystalline molecular materials are usually brittle and are prone to break into pieces upon external mechanical force. This fragility poses challenges for their application in next-generation technologies, including sensors, synthetic tissues, and advanced opto-electronics. The recent discovery of mechanical flexibility in single crystals of molecular materials has solved this issue and enable the design of smart flexible device technologies. Plastic crystals can be deformed permanently. This behavior is based on anisotropic molecular arrangements and the existence of facile slip planes which allow a permanent motion within the lattice. In contrast, elastic crystals can be deformed, but regain the original structure when the force is removed. This phenomenon is related to energetically isotropic molecular packing. Here we report 4-bromo-6-[(6-chlorolpyridin-2-ylimino)methyl]phenol (BCMPMP) as a promising candidate for future waveguide technologies. It turns out that BCMPMP has two different polymorphs with distinct optical and mechanical properties. Form I crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pca21 and shows brittle behavior. This structure exhibit very weak emission at 605 nm (λex = 425 nm) together with a low fluorescence quantum yield (Φ = 0.4 %). On the other hand, form II (monoclinic space group P21/c) has a large plastic regime and a bright emission at 585 nm (λex = 425 nm; Φ = 8.7 %). Based on its improved mechanical and optical properties, form II was explored as a bendable optical waveguide. Light was successfully propagated through a straight-shaped and mechanically deformed BCMPMP crystal. Depending on the light source, active or passive waveguiding could be achieved. So BCMPMP can also be used as a flexible wavelength filter.
Crystalline molecular materials are usually brittle and are prone to break upon external mechanical force. This fragility poses challenges for their application in next-generation technologies, including sensors, synthetic tissues, and advanced opto-electronics. The recent discovery of mechanical flexibility in single crystals of molecular materials has solved this problem and enable the design of smart flexible device technologies. Mechanical flexibility of organic crystals can be tuned by altering the weak interactions in the crystal structure, for examples through polymorphism. Here we report 4-bromo-6-[(6-chlorolpyridin-2-ylimino)methyl]phenol (BCMPMP) as a promising candidate for future waveguide technologies. It turns out that BCMPMP has two different polymorphs with distinct optical and mechanical properties. Form I shows brittle behavior under mechanical stress and exhibits very weak emission at 605 nm (λex = 425 nm) together with a low fluorescence quantum yield (Φ = 0.4 %).In contrast, Form II has a large plastic (irreversible bending) regime and a bright emission at 585 nm (λex = 425 nm; Φ = 8.7 %). Making use of favorable mechanical fexiblity and optical properties, form II was explored as a bendable optical waveguide. Light was successfully propagated through a straight-shaped and mechanically deformed BCMPMP crystal. Depending on the light source, active or passive waveguiding could be achieved. So BCMPMP can also be used as a flexible wavelength filter.
Based on the nature of the deformation, molecular crystals can be defined as being plastically (irreversible) or elastically (reversible)bendable. The mechanical response of crystals is thereby directly related to they structure.The structural elements required for a specific mechanical behavior are known, so that compounds with these properties can be synthesized by applying the rules of crystal engineering.