Mechanical path to a photogenerated structure: ball milling-induced phase transition of a gold(i) complex

Abstract

Ball milling of blue-emitting crystal 1B of gold(I) isocyanide complex 1 induces a phase transition to yellow-emitting powder 1Y_G, which has the same solid structure as the previously reported 1Y obtained upon photoirradiation of 1B. This is the first example of mechanical stimulation inducing a phase change to a photo-accessible crystalline phase.