An axially polar-ferroelectric columnar liquid crystal (AP-FCLC) phase that exhibits both switching and maintenance of the macro-polarity in the column axis direction has been achieved in an ,'-bis(3,4,5-trialkoxyphenyl)urea compound (-) prepared from (±)-citronellyl bromide. Although it had been thought that chirality is necessary to achieve the AP-FCLC phase from our previous study, the optically inactive compound which is a mixture of 21 stereoisomers, generated an AP-FCLC phase. We confirmed its ferroelectricity and investigated the mechanism for realizing the AP-FCLC phase using optoelectronic experiments, X-ray diffraction, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. As a result, it was suggested that chiral self-sorting occurs in the columnar liquid crystal phase, in which molecules with a similar stereochemistry form a one-handed helical column, and columns with the same helicity gather together to form a chiral domain. Accordingly, we conclude that the optically inactive compound - also indicates ferroelectricity similar to that of an optically pure urea compound because of chiral self-sorting.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8296585 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c02534 | DOI Listing |
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