(E)-3-(Anthracen-9-yl)acrylic acid (9-AYAA) exhibits a strong photomechanical response in bulk crystals but is challenging to grow in microcrystalline form. High quality microcrystals of this molecule could not be grown using techniques like sublimation, reprecipitation, and the floating drop method. If the tertbutyl ester of 9-AYAA is used as a starting material, however, high quality, size-uniform microwires could be grown via acid catalyzed hydrolysis. 9-AYAA microwires with uniform length and thickness were produced after a suspension of (E)-tert-butyl 3-(anthracen-9-yl)acrylate ester microparticles was tumble-mixed in a mixture of phosphoric acid and sodium dodecyl sulfate at 35 °C. The dependence of the results on temperature, surfactant and precursor concentration, and mixing mode was investigated. This chemical reaction-growth method was extended to grow microplates of 9-anthraldehyde using the corresponding acylal as the starting material. Under 475 nm irradiation, the 9-AYAA microwires undergo a photoinduced coiling–uncoiling transition, while the 9-anthraldehyde microplates undergo a folding–unfolding transition.
(E)-3-(
蒽-9-基)
丙烯酸(9-AY
AA)在块状晶体中表现出强烈的光机械响应,但要生长成微晶形式却很困难。使用升华法、重沉淀法和浮滴法等技术都无法生长出这种分子的高质量微晶。不过,如果使用 9-AY
AA 的叔丁酯作为起始材料,则可以通过酸催化
水解法培育出高质量、尺寸均匀的微丝。在 35 °C下,将(E)-3-(
蒽-9-基)
丙烯酸叔丁酯微颗粒悬浮液在
磷酸和
十二烷基硫酸钠的混合物中翻滚混合,制备出长度和厚度均一的9-AY
AA微丝。研究了结果与温度、表面活性剂和前体浓度以及混合方式的关系。这种
化学反应生长法扩展到了以相应的酰基醛为起始材料的 9-
蒽醛微板生长。在 475 纳米波长的照射下,9-AY
AA 微丝经历了光诱导的卷绕-开卷转变,而 9-
蒽醛微板则经历了折叠-开折转变。