Synthesis and mesomorphism of ionic self-assembled complexes of anthraquinones

ABSTRACT

Anthraquinones are known to exhibit mesomorphism upon appropriate substitutions. In this report, the concept of ionic self-assembly has been applied to design and synthesise new anthraquinone-based liquid crystals. Four different anthraquinones were used as polyelectrolytes which form ionic complexes with double-tail ammonium surfactants. The chemical structures were characterised by spectral techniques and elemental analysis. The thermal behaviour of the complexes was investigated by polarising optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction studies. All these complexes display lamellar mesomorphism. The amphotropic nature of the complexes has also been studied.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Anthraquinones
• ionic self-assembly
• lamellar mesophases
• X-ray diffraction
• discotic liquid crystal

Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. V. Lakshminarayanan for his useful suggestions, Mrs. Vasudha, K, N and Dr. Srinivasa. H.T, Dr. Vijayaraghavan for technical support and Dr. A. JayaKumar & Mr. Madhukar. S. Ms. Meera Thomas, Ms. Sreeja Sasidharan for their valuable help in data analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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