Hydrogen bond network-stabilisation of blue phases by addition of a chiral N-(10-hydroxydecyl)succinimide derivative and alkane diols

ABSTRACT

Blue phases (BPs) obtained by doping a commercially available liquid crystalline compound (4-butyl-N-(4-ethoxybenzylidene)aniline (EBBA)) with (2R,3R)-2,3-bis(4-octyloxyphenylbenzoyloxy)-N-(hydroxydecyl)succinimide (1) were highly stabilised by the addition of a small amount of alkane diols. Especially, addition of only 0.5 mol% of octane-1,8-diol increased the BP–Iso transition temperature by 10 K and widened the BP temperature range up to 35 K. A model stabilisation mechanism based on the construction of a hydrogen bond network in each disclination zone in BPs was proposed.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Blue phase
• chiral dopant
• chiral nematic liquid crystal phase
• disclination
• hydrogen bond

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Ozaki who saved KK’s life by an operation for brain haemorrhage during the term of this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI [grant numbers 24655166, 25288088].