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Updated: Dec 22, 2025

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Twisting and bending photo-excited phenylethynylbenzenes - a theoretical analysis
Manuel Hodecker1, Alexis M Driscoll2, Uwe H F Bunz3
1Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 205, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. dreuw@uni-heidelberg.de.
Abstract:
Oligo(phenylethynyl)benzenes are a family of compounds that exhibit a rich photochemistry changing dramatically with different orientation of a phenyl group in the molecule. Quantum-chemical calculations have been performed to investigate different members of this family of compounds and compared to previous experimental and theoretical studies. 1,4-Bis(phenylethynyl)benzene (BPEB) has different optical properties than its smaller relative diphenylacetylene; however, upon twisting an outer phenyl ring of BPEB, its photochemistry becomes very similar. Fluorine substituents at the central benzene ring are shown to have only small effects on the optical properties of BPEB.
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