An "on-off" switchable cubic phase with exceptional thermal stability and water sorption capacity.

We report on the phase behaviour of a wedge-shaped mesogen, which can exist in two different states at room temperature, a stable columnar and a metastable cubic gyroid phase. The latter reveals exceptional stability and remarkable water sorption capacity accounted for by the locally-ordered peripheral alkyl chains.

Novel indolin-2-one-substituted methanofullerenes bearing long n-alkyl chains: synthesis and application in bulk-heterojunction solar cells.

An easy, high-yield and atom-economic procedure of a C60 fullerene modification using a reaction of fullerene C60 with N-alkylisatins in the presence of tris(diethylamino)phosphine to form novel long-chain alkylindolinone-substituted methanofullerenes (AIMs) is described. Optical absorption, electrochemical properties and solubility of AIMs were studied. Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT)/AIMs solar cells were fabricated and the effect of the AIM alkyl chain length and the P3HT:AIM ratio on the solar cell performance was studied.