Abstract

Comparable to light, heat, or electrical current, mechanical stress is a physicochemical stimulus that can be used to alter the properties of small molecules and materials allowing access to latent functionality. We tailor-make small force-responsive molecules and integrate them into macromolecular architectures with the goal to harvest properties, such as mechanical self-reinforcement or the release of active moieties to perform chemical reactions, on a material level. Besides this productive use, mechanical stress usually serves as a destructive element entailing the development of a wide range of macromolecular materials with outstanding mechanical properties. Using optical molecular force probes that turn “on” their fluorescence under mechanical load, we try to unravel the influences of structural elements in these, oftentimes complex, polymeric architectures.