New cyanopyridone based luminescent liquid crystalline materials: synthesis and characterization

A new series of 4-(3,4-bis(akyloxy)phenyl)-6-(4-((1-(4-cyano- or 4-nitro-benzyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methoxy)phenyl)-2-oxo-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitriles carrying terminal di-alkoxy chain lengths (viz. octyloxy, decyloxy, dodecyloxy, tetradecyloxy and hexadodecyloxy) as well as terminal polar groups -CN or -NO2 have been designed and synthesized successfully as luminescent mesogens. Their thermotropic behaviors have been studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy. The supramolecular organizations in them were explored by the temperature dependent X-ray diffraction method and their photophysical properties were investigated using UV-visible and fluorescence spectral methods. The mesogenic study reveals that the presence of hydrogen bonds, as well as dimerization between the molecules, is mainly responsible for the formation of the ambient temperature hexagonal columnar phase (Colh) in the new molecules. Their photophysical study indicates that the compounds exhibit a strong absorption band at ∼370 nm and a blue emission band at ∼466 nm with good quantum yields of ∼0.62 when compared to quinine sulphate (Φf = 0.54) in chloroform. Also, the compounds show a slightly red shift in the absorption band with increased solvent polarity. In liquid crystalline films, they display a bathochromic shift in the emission band because of the intimate overlap of molecular cores in the hexagonal columnar phase.