From the journal:

Chemical Communications

Tunable photo-deformation of simple AIE-active salicylideneaniline Schiff bases via an ESIPT-ISO process

Xiao Chen,†ab   Cheng Cheng,†a   Yang Yu,†c   Weiren Zhong,d   Zhichen Zhao,a   Shilong Yang,e   Zheng Zhao, ORCID logo b   Jianyu Zhang*c  and  Xu-Min Cai ORCID logo *af  

* Corresponding authors

a Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
E-mail: xumin.cai@njfu.edu.cn

b Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Aggregate Science, School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518172, China

c State Key Laboratory of Biobased Transportation Fuel Technology, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

d Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Nanjing 210042, China

e Advanced Analysis and Testing Center, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

f Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Luminescence from Molecular Aggregates, Guangzhou 510640, China

Abstract

Reports on salicylideneaniline-based photo-deformable materials are scarce due to unclear structure-performance relationships. We present an optimization strategy for salicylideneaniline Schiff bases based on the spatial and electronic effects, and a PMMA film doped with the optimized Schiff base exhibits a bending angle of 23° within 14 seconds.

Graphical abstract: Tunable photo-deformation of simple AIE-active salicylideneaniline Schiff bases via an ESIPT-ISO process

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC04671H
Article type
Communication
Submitted
14 Aug 2025
Accepted
31 Oct 2025
First published
13 Nov 2025

Chem. Commun., 2025, Advance Article

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Tunable photo-deformation of simple AIE-active salicylideneaniline Schiff bases via an ESIPT-ISO process

X. Chen, C. Cheng, Y. Yu, W. Zhong, Z. Zhao, S. Yang, Z. Zhao, J. Zhang and X. Cai, Chem. Commun., 2025, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D5CC04671H

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