NCCR

While mechanochemical transduction processes are omnipresent in nature, the exploitation of this general principle in artificial materials is only slowly emerging. So far, relatively few mechanically responsive motifs (“mechanophores”) are known, which can be integrated into macromolecules, break upon application of sufficient mechanical force, and report this event by a change of their optical characteristics. Within the scope of the National Competence Center in Research Bio-Inspired Materials, the Polymer Chemistry and Materials group is exploring new mechanophores that display a mechanochromic response and polymer systems containing such motifs.