Self-Assembly of Rod-Coil Molecules into Cylindrical Supramolecular Architectures Through Ionic Interaction

Abstract

The mesomorphic behaviors of two rod-coil molecules containing poly(ethylene oxide)s with degree of polymerization of 12 (12-4) and 16 (16-4) and their complexes with LiCF₃SO₃ are discussed. Both rod-coil molecules discussed in this paper exhibits a microphase separated lamellar crystalline phase as well as a layered smectic mesophase. The complexation with LiCF₃SO₃ induced a cylindrical micellar mesophase from a smectic phase of uncomplexed molecule. These results characterized by a combination of techniques by DSC, optical polarized microscopy and X-ray scattering experiments are discussed in terms of the change of the relative volume fraction of coil to rod segments through complexation with LiCF₃SO₃.