Tetraarylsuccinonitriles as mechanochromophores to generate highly stable luminescent carbon-centered radicals.

This communication reports on the design and synthesis of mechanochromophores with a dynamic covalent system composed of a tetraarylsuccinonitrile skeleton that generate a metastable organic luminescent carbon radical. The mechanically generated radical species showed pink color and yellow light emission under UV irradiation. Unusually high stability of the luminescent carbon-centered radicals was also observed in a polymer system.