ABSTRACT
Designing and self-assembly of unconventional star-shaped mesogens or ‘hekates’ are of interest to materials science and molecular electronics. This work presents the synthesis of several symmetric trimeric liquid crystalline compounds comprising 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene (phloroglucinol) as central core. The liquid crystalline behaviour was induced by attaching three rod-like azo-aromatic semi-flexible units to the central core via esteric linkages. Based on differential scanning calorimetry and polarising optical microscopy, the mesophase stability mainly depends on the alkyl chain length. The compounds showed monotropic or enantiotropic behaviour, except the compound with nine atoms on the chain end which is non-mesomorphic. In addition to the synthesis and mesophase characterisation, the self-assembled structures and individual properties have been characterised by molecular simulations.
Graphical Abstract
Acknowledgments
E.L. Epure would like to thank the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi for funding by a National Research Grants of the TUIASI, project number GnaC2018_91/2019.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplementary material
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