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The physical and chemical properties of the solids are directly correlated to their crystal structures. The crystal engineering knowledge helps to modify or fine-tune these properties. It is possible to design organic crystals, metal complexes, coordination polymers (CPs) and metal-organic framework (MOF) materials with desired physical and chemical properties. As more and more exotic new crystalline materials are being discovered, unexpected, unusual, and unpredictable properties have emerged.
The general perception of the crystals being rigid, hard, and brittle has changed ever since the discovery of mechanically responsive crystals. Externally stimulated structural alterations at the molecular level have been successfully manifested to visually striking dynamic effects in the crystal bulk. For the past few years, macroscopic dynamism has been amply demonstrated in response to light, heat, and mechanical energy. The area of mechanically responsive dynamic crystals has surfaced as a major research area for the solid-state chemists. Based on the understanding of structure-property relationship, mechanically compliant crystalline materials, which were once serendipitous, can be designed from the knowledge of engineering crystals. In the quest for developing multifunctional actuating materials, metal complexes and CPs have the potential to be the leading candidates. The dynamic effects can be rationally induced in mechanically compliant crystals after understanding structure-property relationship at the molecular level. In this talk we discuss the recent scientific developments of dynamic and mechanical properties of crystalline materials accompanied by [2+2] cycloaddition reactions in our laboratory which, so far has been generally limited to organic crystals.
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