作者:Christina Keith、Anne Lehmann、Ute Baumeister、Marko Prehm、Carsten Tschierske
DOI:10.1039/b923262a
日期:——
Bent-core mesogens derived from 4-cyanoresorcinol with terminal alkyl chains have been synthesized and investigated by polarizing microscopy, XRD and electro-optical methods. Short chain compounds have exclusively nematic phases which can be cooled to ambient temperature. These nematic phases are similar to ordinary nematic phases with only nearest neighbour correlation (N) whereas long chain compounds form SmC-type cybotactic clusters and these cybotactic nematic phases (NcybC) can be regarded as strongly fragmented SmC phases. The chain length dependent as well as temperature dependent structural transition from N to NcybC is continuous and associated with a change of the position and intensity of the small angle scattering in the XRD patterns. Moreover, a temperature dependent stepwise transition from cybotactic nematic phases to different types of non-polar and tilted smectic phases (SmC(I) and SmC(II)) is observed with a mesophase composed of elongated, but not yet fused cybotactic clusters (CybC) as an intermediate state of this transition. This improves the understanding of the nature and special properties of the nematic phases formed by bent-core molecules as well as their transition to smectic phases and it paves the way to new materials with spontaneous or field-induced biaxial nematic phases at ambient temperatures.
源自4-氰基水杨酚的弯曲核介质与末端烷基链的合成及其通过偏振显微镜、XRD和电光方法进行研究。短链化合物仅具有能冷却到室温的向列相。这些向列相与普通的向列相相似,仅具有最近邻的相关性(N),而长链化合物形成SmC型的赛博聚集体,这些赛博向列相(NcybC)可以被视为强烈分碎的SmC相。链长依赖性以及温度依赖性的从N相到NcybC相的结构转变是连续的,并且与XRD图案中小角散射的位置和强度的变化相关。此外,从赛博向列相到不同类型的非极性和倾斜的层状相(SmC(I)和SmC(II))的温度依赖性逐步转变被观察到,中间状态为由拉伸但尚未融合的赛博聚集体(CybC)组成的介相。这增进了对由弯曲核分子形成的向列相的性质和特殊性能的理解,以及它们向层状相转变的过程,并为在室温下形成自发或电场诱导的双轴向列相的新材料铺平了道路。