Curved crystal morphology, photoreactivity and photosalient behaviour of mononuclear Zn(II) complexes
Caroline Evania Mulijanto1, Hong Sheng Quah1, Geok Kheng Tan1
1Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore , 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
Abstract:
A dramatic effect of crystal morphology, photoreactivity and photosalient property is observed in a zinc(II) complex due to solvent effects and fluorine substitution at the backbone of the ligand. Of the two crystal forms with a 3-fluoro derivative, one yielded a curved morphology of single crystals and the second form shows photoreactivity in the solid state, whereas crystals of the 2-fluoro derivative pop during the [2 + 2] photocycloaddition reaction. This is the first report documenting curved single crystals of metal complexes obtained naturally during crystallization, although such bent crystals have been observed in extended solids naturally, or bent by mechanical force or by UV irradiation.
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