Fig. 1.

Light-induced strain-driven disassembly of supramolecular tubes. (Left) In the initial state, the photoswitchable azobenzene moieties integrated in the building blocks are in the trans configuration (gray), forming a stable, self-assembled tubular structure. (Middle) During irradiation, the azobenzene moieties switch to the nonplanar cis configuration (red). As a result, the tubules build up strain but remain structurally intact. (Right) Once a critical amount of azobenzene building blocks have switched, the tubes suddenly disintegrate.