1. Solvent exchange as a synthetic handle for controlling molecular crystals
- Author
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Shaoyan Wang, Hong Wang, Thu Ha Tran, Zhuangchai Lai, Fei Han, Dongmeng Su, Hongyu Chen, Hua Zhang, Ruoxu Wang, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, School of Materials Science and Engineering, and Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry
- Subjects
Crystal transformation ,Materials science ,Recrystallization (metallurgy) ,02 engineering and technology ,General Chemistry ,Crystal structure ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,Rod ,Synthetic Handle ,0104 chemical sciences ,law.invention ,Solvent ,Chemical engineering ,law ,Chemistry [Science] ,Solvent Exchange ,General Materials Science ,Desolvation ,Crystallization ,0210 nano-technology ,Nanoscopic scale - Abstract
Organic/molecular crystals have been widely applied in medicine, imaging, explosives, and optoelectronics, but there are very limited methods for controlling their size and shape at the micro- or nanoscale. Herein, we develop solvent exchange as a new synthetic handle for creating complex morphologies in molecular crystals. With mitigated driving force in solution phase, solvent loss or exchange in C60 plates does not lead to structural collapse, but leads to crystal transformation to mesh networks. C70 and tetrakis(4-bromophenyl)ethylene crystals show similar transformation upon solvent exchange. We study the co-solvents and uncover their competing roles in the destabilization of the crystal structure and the on-site crystallization towards rods. This unconventional role of co-solvent is of importance not only for understanding the pore formation and crumbling, but also a new step towards regulating the desolvation and recrystallization processes. Rational transformation of organic crystals would open a new synthetic route for designing complex structures and new properties. Ministry of Education (MOE) This work was supported by the MOE of Singapore (RG 14/13 and RG 5/16), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21673117), Recruitment Program of Global Experts, Jiangsu Provincial Foundation for Specially-Appointed Professor, start-up fund at Nanjing Tech University (39837102), and SICAM Fellowship from Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials.
- Published
- 2020