Rational shaping of liquid crystalline diacylaminophenyl platforms equipped with chelating fragments, fluorescent dyes, and square planar platinum complexes

Recent investigations from our laboratory have described compelling experimental evidences that the use of a central 4-methyl-3,5-diacylaminophenyl platform functionalized with two lateral aromatic rings each bearing three appended aliphatic chains is well-suited to produce liquid crystalline materials, some of which carrying at the tips (A-substitution position) chelating fragments such as phenanthroline, terpyridine, alkynyl functions, crown ethers or highly luminescent subunits such as difluoroboradiazaindacene or cationic platinum-terpyridine complexes. An important carvet of this research program is that the presence of amide functions likely stabilizes the mesophases by hydrogen bondings. Judicious grafting of polycatenar tails to the platform insures formation of mesomorphic materials over a large temperature range. Careful design of the system by the direct connection of the platform via alkyne bonds to square planar platinum centers give rise to intriguing phosphorescent metallomesogens.