Amphiphilic and mesogenic carbohydrates IX. Perfluoroalkyl substituted monosaccharides: a new group of amphiphilic liquid crystals

Abstract

The thermal properties of twelve 'single-tailed' carbohydrate-based liquid crystal materials which have a perfluoroalkyl chain (n-C4F9, n-C6F13, n-C8F17) linked to the polar sugar head group are described. All reported amphiphiles, the 6-deoxy-6-C-perfluorohexyl-L-altrose 1, the (5R)-xylopentoses 2, 3 and 4, the 5,6-dideoxy-6-C-perfluoroalkyl-D-glucofuranoses 5 and 6, the 2,3-O-perfluoroalkylidene-D-gulopyranoses 7, 8 and 9 and the 3,4-O-perfluoroalkylidene- D-altropyranoses 10 and 11 form mesophases of the smectic A type. Even a C4F9-chain (compounds 2, 7, and 10) is long enough to cause liquid crystalline behaviour.