title: Tetra[2,3-thienylene]: a building block for single-molecule electromechanical actuators.
abstract: Tetra(2,3-thienylene) is a thiophene-fused [8]annulene capable of undergoing redox-induced dimensional changes. The feasibility of efficiently translating this intrinsic function into a single polymeric electromechanical actuator is investigated by both experiment and density functional theory (B3LYP 6-31G[d,p]). A study of tetra(2,3-thienylene) and its homodimer reveal that redox-induced conformational change is conserved upon dimerization, a result that implicates similar behavior in the corresponding polymer. Theoretical predictions yield a maximum redox-induced dimensional change of 5.92% per repeat unit for the homodimer. Cyclic voltammetry reveals complete reversibility for the corresponding redox cycle. The latter two facts establish tetra(2,3-thienylene) as a suitable building block for single-molecule electromechanical actuators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California 92521-0403, USA. michael.marsella@ucr.edu
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Marsella
authors.forename: Rodney J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Samia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Estassi
authors.forename: Li-Sheng
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Wang