Liquid-crystalline fork-like dendrons

ABSTRACT

Dendritic molecules having several rigid-rod moieties can be applied to induce liquid crystallinity for a variety of non-mesomorphic functional molecules such as metal complexes, nanoparticles, fullerenes and π-conjugated molecules when these dendritic molecules are covalently bonded to those non-mesomorphic molecules. These complex molecules are called supermolecular liquid crystals. Due to the cooperation of several mesogenic moieties, these dendritic molecules exhibit very stable liquid-crystalline (LC) phases. We have used fork-shaped LC dendrons having two or three rigid-rod moieties to induce liquid crystallinity for functional molecules such as interlocked molecules and π-conjugated molecules. In these fork-like molecules, the rigid-rod cores are attached to the 3,4,5-position of the phenyl moieties through flexible spacer, and these molecules are bonded to functional molecules through the 1-position. They basically form smectic LC phases, which induce the layered arrangement of functional moieties. Here we report on a new family of fork-like mesogens containing a hydrogen bonding moiety or an ionic group. They are designed to build supramolecular materials.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Liquid crystal
• self-assembly
• supramolecular liquid crystal
• hydrogen bond
• dendrimer
• alignment control

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP15H02179 and CREST, JST Grant Number JPMJCR1422 (T.K.). J.U. is grateful for financial support from JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists and JSPS Program for Leading Graduate Schools (MERIT).