Mechanophotonic aspects of a room temperature phosphorescent flexible organic microcrystal

A combination of flexibility and room temperature phosphorescence (RTPR) in organic crystals is in high demand due to various applications from bio-medical to organic photonic circuit technologies. However, flexible RTPR crystals are scarce. We report the design and synthesis of novel flexible microcrystals of ( Z )-3-(4-(10 H -phenothiazin-10-yl)phenyl)-2-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)acrylonitrile (PTX-2CF 3 ), exhibiting a phosphorescence lifetime of 658 μs and λ max 530 nm. The structural basis for the mechanical flexibility and mechanophotonic aspects of the PTX-2CF 3 crystals is studied in detail. A novel crystal of PTX-2CF 3 exhibits room temperature phosphorescence and mechanical flexibility. This flexible crystal efficiently transduces optical emission both in the straight and bent geometries.