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From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Linear symmetric liquid crystal trimers exhibiting supramolecular chiral architectures
Ryuji Oikawa1, Haruna Sasaki, Yoichi Takanishi
1Department of Frontier Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 3 Bunkyo-cho, Hirosaki, 036-8561, Japan. ayoshiza@hirosaki-u.ac.jp.
Abstract:
We prepared a homologous series of achiral liquid crystal trimers (I-n) in which two phenylpyrimidine units and one biphenyl unit were connected via flexible spacers, and investigated the physical properties. All the trimers possessing odd-numbered methylene spacers exhibited soft crystalline chiral conglomerate phases. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that they have an intercalated layer structure. On the other hand, the trimers possessing even-numbered spacers showed nematic and smectic C phases. We investigated the surface structures of odd-membered trimers in the soft crystalline phases using scanning electron microscopy. Trimers I-3 and I-5 were found to form cylindrical tubes, whereas trimers I-7, I-9 and I-11 toroidal pits. We discuss the formation of diverse supramolecular architectures in terms of the anisotropy of the chirality transfer.
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