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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Direct observation of a photoinduced nonstabilized nitrile imine structure in the solid state
Shao-Liang Zheng1, Yizhong Wang, Zhipeng Yu
1Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA.
Abstract:
We report the direct observation of a bent geometry for a nonstabilized nitrile imine in a metal-coordination crystal. The photoinduced tetrazole ring rupture to release N(2) appears to depend on the size of voids around the N(3)-N(4) bond in the crystal lattice. We further observed the selective formation of the 1,3-addition product when a reactive nitrile imine was photogenerated in water. Overall, the bent nitrile imine geometry agrees with the 1,3-dipolar structure, a transient reactive species that mediates the photoinduced 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition in the aqueous medium.
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