Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Liquid crystal properties resulting from synergetic effects between non-mesogenic organic molecules and a one
Ana S Mocanu1, Maria Amela-Cortes, Yann Molard
1Université de Rennes 1, UMR Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, UR1-CNRS 6226, Equipe Chimie du Solide et Matériaux, Campus de Beaulieu, CS 74205, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
Abstract:
This work presents the synthesis and studies of a red-NIR luminescent liquid crystal compound based on an octahedral metallic cluster core orthogonally bounded to six non-mesogenic organic ligands. It evidences synergetic effects between the organic and inorganic parts of the hybrid, resulting in the generation of liquid crystal properties on cooling from the isotropic melt.
Related Concept Videos
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Molecular and Ionic Solids
Molecular Solids
Molecular crystalline solids, such as ice, sucrose (table sugar), and iodine, are solids that are composed of neutral molecules as their constituent units. These molecules are held together by weak intermolecular forces such as London dispersion forces, dipole-dipole interactions, or hydrogen bonds, which...
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
Polymer Classification: Crystallinity
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
Complexation Equilibria: The Chelate Effect
Stereoisomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...

