In the last century, molecular crystals functioned predominantly as a means for determining
the molecular structures via X-ray diffraction, albeit as the century came to a close the …

Precise control over molecular movement is of fundamental and practical importance in
physics, biology, and chemistry. At nanoscale, the peculiar functioning principles and the …

Diarylethene (DAE) photoswitch is a new and promising family of photochromic molecules
and has shown superior performance as a smart trigger in stimulus‐responsive materials …

Photomechanical molecular crystals are promising candidates for photoactuators and can
potentially be implemented as smart materials in various fields. Here, we synthesized a new …

With emerging research on stimuli-responsive materials, dynamic crystals are at the forefront
of investigation. However, research on the mechanical properties of coordination polymers …

Organic photomechanical crystals have great promise as molecular machines, but their
development has been hindered by a lack of clear theoretical design principles. While much …

When photochromic molecules are organized in a crystal, the small-scale forces generated
by molecular photoisomerization events can combine together to generate work on micro-or …

The solid-state synthesis of single-crystalline organic polymers, having functional properties,
remains an attractive and developing research area in polymer chemistry and materials …

This highlight presents the recent scientific developments in the mechanical properties of
crystalline coordination polymers (CPs). CPs have emerged as relatively new crystalline …

Photomechanical molecular crystals, which can directly convert light energy to mechanical
energy and do mechanical work at different scales, are promising for future photoactuators …