Light-Induced Bending of Needle-Like Crystals of Naphthylvinylbenzoxazole Triggered by trans-cis Isomerization

New diarylethene derivatives containing benzoxazole (NBO) and benzothiazole (NBT) have been synthesized. Light-induced trans-cis isomerization of NBO and NBT took place in crystals, and only induced the needle-like crystals of NBO to bend backwards away from the UV light source. The movement of the atoms was deemed to take place during the isomerization of NBO; hence, strain would be produced and accumulated rapidly in the surface of crystals exposed to UV light. The uniform release of strain led to the bending of needle-like crystals. The light-induced trans-cis isomerization efficiency of NBT was too low to drive the motion of crystals, which might have originated from the large repulsion between naphthyl and benzothiazole. These results provide a new platform for the transformation of light energy into mechanical energy in molecular crystals through the unimolecular photochemical reaction of diarylethene derivatives.