Issue 9, 2014

Synthesis and mesomorphism of triphenylene-based dimers with a highly ordered columnar plastic phase

Abstract

A series of triphenylene-based discotic dimers have been synthesized, each of the triphenylene nuclei bears five β-OC4H9 substituents, which are linked through the remaining β-positions by a flexible O(CH2)nO polymethylene chain (n = 2–12). Their chemical structures were confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. The mesomorphic properties of these compounds were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. It was found that these dimers for which n > 4 formed a highly ordered columnar plastic phase and some of them (n = 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12) exhibited multiple mesophases. This is the first time that the rectangular columnar plastic phase was defined by us as a novel liquid crystal phase of compound 4d (n = 5). The introduction of a single interconnecting chain between adjacent molecules does not significantly perturb the formation of a columnar plastic phase but enriches the mesophases of discotic molecules and hinders the crystallization; the mesophases of 4e–k (n = 6–12) can be supercooled into a glass state in which the self-assembly columnar structures are retained.

Graphical abstract: Synthesis and mesomorphism of triphenylene-based dimers with a highly ordered columnar plastic phase

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Oct 2013
Accepted
04 Dec 2013
First published
05 Dec 2013

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2014,2, 1667-1674

Synthesis and mesomorphism of triphenylene-based dimers with a highly ordered columnar plastic phase

Y. Wang, C. Zhang, H. Wu and J. Pu, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2014, 2, 1667 DOI: 10.1039/C3TC31986E

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