ABSTRACT
Inspired by the supramolecular architecture of cornflower blue we developed luminescent flavylium salts with lipophilic alkoxy or thioether side chains which self-assemble into liquid crystalline phases. The current account highlights some fundamental aspects of our biological ‘role model’ anthocyanine, the origin of the natural pigment cornflower blue, and our recent developments on novel liquid crystalline emissive dyes. Starting with the general synthesis of flavylium salts, other topics address variations of flavylium ILCs, including specific tuning of their mesomorphic and photophysical behaviour.
Acknowledgments
Generous financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG grants # La 907/17-2, La 907/20-1 SNAPSTER), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD PHC Procope, WELCHYNA) Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst des Landes Baden-Württemberg, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (shared instrumentation grant # 01 RI 05177), the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (PhD fellowship for J.A. Knöller) and the Carl-Schneider-Stiftung Aalen (shared instrumentation grant) is gratefully acknowledged.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.