Liquid crystal behavior and luminescence properties of (2Z,2′Z)-2,2′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(3-(4-(N-alkoxy) phenyl)acrylonitrile

Abstract

Luminescent liquid crystals (LLCs) have attracted significant interest in organic optoelectronic applications owing to their ordered alignment and luminescence properties. In this study, a series of dicyanodistyrylbenzene-based calamitic molecules, (2Z,2′Z)-2,2′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(3-(4-(N-alkoxy)phenyl)acrylonitrile (Cn), are reported. In addition, the mesomorphism and luminescence properties of the as-prepared Cn were evaluted. With increasing chain length to six methylene groups, Cn formed a smectic C liquid crystal phase. For C8, C12, and C18 with long flexible chains, a chiral smectic C (SmC*) phase formed because of the asymmetrical twisted configuration. The results demonstrated that the compounds are aggregation-induced enhanced emission-active materials, and the suspensions of C12 and C18 in a THF/H₂O mixture exhibit green, yellow, and orange emission colors depending on the self-assembled structure, which can be modulated by controlling the aggregation speed.

Keywords:

• aggregation-induced enhanced emission-active materials
• luminescent liquid crystals
• mesomorphism and luminescence properties
• self-assembled structure

Additional information

Funding

This work was mainly supported by the Provincial Science Foundation of Anhui (1708085MF150), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61107014) for the financial support.