Soft self-assembled sub-5 nm scale chessboard and snub-square tilings with oligo(para-phenyleneethynylene) rods.

X-Shaped bolapolyphiles, comprising a linear polyaromatic core with glycerol groups at each end and two chemically different and incompatible chains, fixed to it at opposite sides, were synthesized and found to self-assemble into honeycomb-type liquid crystalline phases with square symmetry. The polyaromatic π-conjugated rods form the cell walls and the resulting prismatic cells of sub-5 nm size are alternatively filled with perfluorocarbon (RF) and the carbosilane chains (RSi). The resulting structures can be represented as either a two-colour snub-square tiling with triangular and square cells or as a chessboard tiling of squares.

Levels of selected analytes in the emissions of "heat not burn" tobacco products that are relevant to assess human health risks.

Consumers of combustible cigarettes are exposed to many different toxicologically relevant substances associated with negative health effects. Newly developed "heat not burn" (HNB) devices are able to contain lower levels of Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents (HPHCs) in their emissions compared to tobacco cigarettes. However, to develop toxicological risk assessment strategies, further independent and standardized investigations addressing HPHC reduction need to be done.

Electronic cigarettes: overview of chemical composition and exposure estimation.

Background: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are advertised to tobacco users as a tool to decrease cigarette consumption and to reduce toxic exposure associated with conventional tobacco smoking. Little is known about the compounds contained in such products, their exposure and long-term health effects.

Methods: NMR spectroscopy was used to ascertain the content of several constituents of e-cigarette liquids including nicotine, solvents and some bioactive flavour compounds.

Complex multicolor tilings and critical phenomena in tetraphilic liquid crystals.

T-shaped molecules with a rod-like aromatic core and a flexible side chain form liquid crystal honeycombs with aromatic cell walls and a cell interior filled with the side chains. Here, we show how the addition of a second chain, incompatible with the first (X-shaped molecules), can form honeycombs with highly complex tiling patterns, with cells of up to five different compositions ("colors") and polygonal shapes. The complexity is caused by the inability of the side chains to separate cleanly because of geometric frustration.

A modular approach towards functional decoration of peptide-polymer nanotapes.

Self-assembled peptide-polymer nanotapes of poly(ethylene oxide)-peptide conjugates are modified by a simple amine-azide transfer to create azide-containing nanofibres, which provide a platform for modular functionalization as demonstrated by the introduction of different carboxyl bearing entities to modulate the calcium binding properties of the nanotapes.

Layer frustration, polar order and chirality in liquid crystalline phases of silyl-terminated achiral bent-core molecules.

A novel class of bent-core molecules with oligo(siloxane) or carbosilane units at both ends was synthesized and the self-organization of these molecules was investigated by polarizing microscopy, DSC, X-ray scattering, dielectric and electrooptical methods. Depending on the size of the silicon-containing segments, smectic and columnar liquid crystalline phases are formed. Most smectic phases are low birefringent and composed of macroscopic domains of opposite handedness (dark conglomerate phases).

The carbosilane unit as a stable building block for liquid crystal design: a new class of ferroelectric switching banana-shaped mesogens.

New banana shaped liquid crystals with a carbosilane unit at one end were synthesised and depending on the number of Si-atoms either antiferroelectric (AF) or ferroelectric (FE) switching polar smectic C phases have been obtained.