A new multitalented azine ligand: elastic bending, single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation and a fluorescence turn-on Al(iii) sensor.

We report a rare combination of two unique properties of an azine based ligand (H3L): in a solid-state crystalline material it shows highly flexible and elastic behavior which on triggering with light results in slight deviation with phase transformation at the Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal (SCSC) level. Furthermore, in the solution state it acts as a highly selective, sensitive and reversible Al3+ sensor with a detection limit of 42 nM.