Figure 6

Photoresponsive behaviours of pseudorotaxane crystals. (a) Schematic of photoinduced structural changes. Pseudorotaxane is activated by laser irradiation, leading to expansion of the crystal at 30 °C (Path I) and crystal-to-crystal phase transition at high temperatures (Path II). (b) Laser-power dependence of the change in the relative area of the (001) facet of the single crystal induced by focused 405 nm laser irradiation. (c) UV-visible absorption spectra of mixed crystals in chloroform solutions. (d) Plots of phase transition temperature vs. Ru/(Fe + Ru) with/without 10 mW 405 nm laser irradiation. (e) Illustration of packing structures for pseudorotaxanes in the crystal state. Free space can be created by the presence of ruthenocene in the mixed crystals. See also the Supplementary Movie.