A “core determination” phenomenon in four dichiral liquid crystals containing two lactate groups

Abstract

Four dichiral liquid crystals with one perfluoroalkyl chain and two lactate groups were synthesized. They all exhibit an enantiotropic SmA phase. An enantiotropic SmC_d* phase was identified in a pair of enantiomers. Their optical activity was mainly controlled by the chirality of the lactate residue near mesogenic core. These liquid crystals could self-assemble into twisted nanoribbons or helical nanofibers. The stacking handedness of mesogenic cores and the handedness of nanoribbons/nanofibers were also dominated by the chirality of lactate group near mesogenic core. This “core determination” phenomenon was proposed to originate from the π–π stacking among mesogenic cores.

Keywords:

• Chirality
• fluorocarbon chain
• handedness
• liquid crystal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by authors.

Note: Cr: crystal; SmC_d*: bilayer chiral smectic C; SmA: bilayer smectic A; I: isotropic liquid; Recr: recrystal and the corresponding enthalpies, ΔH in kJ mol⁻¹ detected on the second temperature run at a rate of 10 °C min⁻¹.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (20KJA430009) and the Project of Scientific and Technologic Infrastructure of Suzhou (SZS201905).