Teensy Mechanophores

Epoxides are attractive as minimalist mechanophores for stress-responsive cross-linking, but dialkyl epoxides are really lousy mechanophores because of their low reactivity.  Meredith and co-workers investigate how an alpha-alkene substituent can turn epoxides into viable mechanophores in this recent Macromolecules article.  Congrats to Meredith and team!