Very Unique Liquid Crystalline Phase Structures Having Two-Dimensional Silver Sheet for the Adducts of Phenazine and Silver Alkylsulfonates

Abstract

The silver ion–based supramolecular adducts bearing long alkyl chains (Cn-Phen: n (carbon number of alkyl chain) = 12, 14, 16, 18) were prepared by reaction of phenazine and silver alkylsulfonates. Their liquid crystalline behavior was studied by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing microscopy, and temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction techniques. Each of the adducts exhibits three mesophases with layer structures; an unidentified smectic phase (S_x), smectic C (S_C), and smectic A (S_A) phases. Furthermore, it was found that each of the layers has a two-dimensional silver ion sheet sandwiched above and below by two aliphatic sheets.

Keywords:

• liquid crystal
• self-assembly
• silver sheet

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 13750819 and No. 19022011) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan.

Notes

Phase nomenclature: Cr = crystal and M = mesophase.

M₁(S_x) = unidentified smectic mesophase + Ag. rec(C₂/m); M₂ = Smectic C + Ag. rec(C₂/m); M₃ = Smectic A + Ag.rec(C₂/m).

#: possible stucking distance of phenanine cores.