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Abstract
In this article, we probe the formation of liquid crystal and soft crystal phases as a consequence of minimising the free volume of the system either through design engineering of molecular shape or through deformation of molecular architecture. Following this concept, a number of realisations were made, for example, smectic A phases with variable layer spacing, smectic C phases without layer shrinkage, lattices of free space and fibres in NTB phases.
Additional information
Funding
This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/L012375/1], [grant number EP/J007714/1], [grant number EP/E064299/1]; the Leverhulme Trust, the European Science Foundation; Kingston Chemicals; DERA/QinetiQ; and the Wild Trust.