Science Daily  October 8, 2019 An international team of researchers (the Netherlands, China) report that fluorenone derivative (4-DBpFO) shows a strong shear deformation upon heating due to a structural phase transition which is reproducible after more than hundred heating/cooling cycles. Molecular dynamic simulations show that the transition occurs through a nucleation-and-growth mechanism, triggered by thermally induced rotations of the phenyl rings, leading to a rearrangement of the molecular configuration. This material can serve as a prototype structure to direct the development of new types of robust molecular actuators…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE