Journal
NATURE CHEMISTRY
Volume 6, Issue 12, Pages 1079-1083Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.2092
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Funding
- MEXT (Japan) [26104528]
- China Scholarship Council
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [24550190, 25410071, 24109014, 26104528, 25410068, 25102709] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Many molecular machines with controllable molecular-scale motors have been developed. However, transmitting molecular movement to the macroscopic scale remains a formidable challenge. Here we report a single crystal of a Ni complex whose shape changes abruptly and reversibly in response to thermal changes at around room temperature. Variable-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies show that the crystalline shape change is induced by an unusual 90 degrees rotation of uniaxially aligned oxalate molecules. The oxalate dianions behave as molecular-scale rotors, with their movement propagated through the entire crystalline material via intermolecular hydrogen bonding. Consequently, the subnanometrescale changes in the oxalate molecules are instantly amplified to a micrometre-scale contraction or expansion of the crystal, accompanied by a thermal hysteresis loop. The shape change in the crystal was clearly detected under an optical microscope. The large directional deformation and prompt response suggest a role for this material in microscale or nanoscale thermal actuators.
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