A new strategy towards the synthesis of a room-temperature discotic nematic liquid crystal employing triphenylene and pentaalkynylbenzene units. | LitMetric
A new approach is reported for the design of a room-temperature discotic nematic (N) liquid crystal (LC) dimer consisting of a triphenylene and a pentaalkynylbenzene unit linked via flexible alkyl spacers. The formation of the N phase is realized most likely through folding of the dimeric molecule that prevent stacking between the triphenylene units, as suggested by modelling in the mesophase derived from X-ray scattering results and high-level DFT calculations.
The future of next-generation electronics relies on low-cost organic semiconductors that are tailored to simultaneously provide all requisite optoelectronic properties, focusing greatly on ambipolar charge-transport and solution processability. In this regard, room-temperature discotic liquid crystals (DLCs) are potential candidates, where quasi-1D self-assembly affords a charge-transport channel along their columnar axis. This work shows a molecular design strategy by utilizing anthraquinone as the primary motif, surrounded by ester functionalized tri-alkoxy phenyl units to develop room-temperature DLCs (1.
Designing smart autonomous healing soft materials is crucial to attaining cost-efficiency and optimal performance in organic semiconductors. In this context, we design an unsymmetrical thiophene-fused phenazine (TFP)-based discotic liquid crystal (DLC) with the goal of creating an active organic semiconductor that encompasses favorable attributes, such as polarizability, mobility, and processability. Aligned with our objective, we successfully synthesized two unsymmetrical TFP core-based DLCs by linking alkyl chains of variable lengths at the periphery through a coupling reaction.
A new reaction method using palladium as a catalyst was developed to combine bay-diiodinated arenes with -chloroaromatic carboxylic acids.
This technique allows for the production of various polycyclic aromatic compounds, particularly those with multiple alkoxy groups, which have applications in liquid-crystalline materials.
The study found that one of the resulting compounds, 2,3,8,9,12,13-hexakis(hexyloxy)-5-azadibenzo[fg,op]tetracene, shows promising liquid-crystalline properties at room temperature.
We report a semiconducting triindole-based discotic liquid crystal () functionalized with six -methylthiophenyl groups at its periphery. While initially a crystalline solid at room temperature, transitions to a columnar hexagonal mesophase upon heating and retains this supramolecular organization upon subsequent cooling, despite having only three flexible alkyl chains attached to the core's nitrogens. The incorporation of methylthio groups effectively hinders tight molecular packing, stabilizing the columnar arrangement of this disk-shaped molecule.
Researchers focused on a new type of liquid crystal made from pyrene and thiophene that has four side chains and works at room temperature.
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These findings suggest that these molecular systems could be useful in advanced applications within organic electronics, particularly in nonlinear devices.
