Pathan Javed R, Balan Haripriya, Commins Patrick, Ravi Arthi, Al-Handawi Marieh B, Hou Ian Cheng-Yi, Naumov Panče, Sureshan Kana M
School of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Vithura 695551, India.
Smart Materials Lab, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates.
J Am Chem Soc. 2024 Oct 2;146(39):27100-27108. doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c09334. Epub 2024 Sep 18.
We report both cracking and self-healing in crystals occurring during a thermal phase transition, followed by a topochemical polymerization. A squaramide-based monomer was designed where the azide and alkyne units of adjacent molecules are positioned favorably for a topochemical click reaction. The monomer undergoes spontaneous single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) polymerization at room temperature via regiospecific 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, yielding the corresponding triazole-linked polymer in a few days. When heated at 60 °C, the polymerization completes in a SCSC manner in 24 h. Upon continuous heating from room temperature to 110 °C, the monomer crystals develop multiple cracks, and they self-heal immediately. The cracking occurs due to a thermal phase transition, as evidenced by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The cracks heal either upon further heating or upon cooling of the crystals due to the topochemical polymerization or reversal of the phase transition, respectively. Increasing the heating rate leads to the formation of longer and wider cracks, which also heal instantaneously. The self-healed crystals retained their integrity and the crystal structure of the self-healed crystals was analyzed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The quality of the self-healed crystals and their diffraction ability conform to those of the completely reacted crystals at room temperature or at 60 °C without developing cracks. This work demonstrates a novel mechanism for self-healing of molecular crystals that could expand the horizon of these materials for a plethora of applications.
我们报道了在热相变过程中晶体出现的开裂和自愈合现象,随后发生了拓扑化学聚合反应。设计了一种基于方酰胺的单体,相邻分子的叠氮化物和炔烃单元处于有利于拓扑化学点击反应的位置。该单体在室温下通过区域特异性的1,3 - 偶极环加成反应进行自发的单晶到单晶(SCSC)聚合,在几天内生成相应的三唑连接聚合物。当在60°C加热时,聚合反应在24小时内以SCSC方式完成。从室温持续加热到110°C时,单体晶体出现多条裂缝,并立即自我愈合。开裂是由于热相变引起的,差示扫描量热法(DSC)证明了这一点。裂缝分别由于拓扑化学聚合或相变逆转,在进一步加热或晶体冷却时愈合。提高加热速率会导致形成更长、更宽的裂缝,这些裂缝也会立即愈合。自我愈合后的晶体保持了其完整性,通过单晶X射线衍射分析了自我愈合晶体的晶体结构。自我愈合晶体的质量及其衍射能力与在室温或60°C下完全反应且未出现裂缝的晶体一致。这项工作展示了一种分子晶体自我愈合的新机制,这可能会拓宽这些材料在众多应用中的前景。