作者:Toby Donaldson、Peter A. Henderson、Marie France Achard、Corrie T. Imrie
DOI:10.1039/c1jm10992h
日期:——
The synthesis and characterisation of two new series of liquid crystal tetramers in which four mesogenic groups are linked via three alkyl spacers is reported. In each series the length of the outer two spacers, n, is varied between 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11 methylene units while the central spacer length, m, is either 5 or 6 methylene units. The outer two mesogenic groups are cholesteryl-based, Chol, while the inner two are Schiff's bases, SB. The tetramers are referred to by the acronym Chol-n-SB-m-SB-n-Chol. All twelve tetramers exhibit an enantiotropic chiral nematic phase. The chiral nematic-isotropic transition temperatures and associated entropy changes depend critically on the combination of spacers in the tetramer and this is interpreted in terms of average molecular shapes. The tetramers with m = 5 and n = 5, 7, and m = 6 and n = 3, 4, 5, 7, show a monolayer chiral smectic C* phase, the driving force for which may be the mismatch in the cross-sectional areas of the differing mesogenic groups. The tetramers with m=6 and n = 10, 11 show a quadruply intercalated smectic A phase characterised by a smectic periodicity to estimated molecular length ratio of just 0.23. The driving force for the formation of this phase is thought to be specific electrostatic interactions between the unlike mesogenic units while the formation of the phase is strongly dependent on the length and parity of the spacers due to packing constraints. On cooling, a new phase transition is seen, possibly driven by conformational changes in the outer flexible spacers, for both these tetramers from the intercalated smectic A phase to an intercalated alternating chiral smectic C* phase in which the layers consist of either the mixed mesogenic groups or solely the cholesteryl-based moieties.
报道了两种新型液晶四聚体的合成和表征,其中四个介晶基团通过三个烷基间隔基连接。在每一系列中,外部两个间隔基的长度n在3、4、5、7、10和11个亚甲基单元之间变化,而中央间隔基的长度m为5或6个亚甲基单元。外部的两个介晶基团是胆固醇基的,记为Chol,而内部的两个是席夫碱,记为SB。这些四聚体用缩写Chol-n-SB-m-SB-n-Chol表示。所有十二个四聚体都表现出手性向列相的性质。手性向列相-各向同性相的转变温度及其相关的熵变化关键取决于四聚体中间隔基的组合,这可以通过平均分子形状来解释。具有m=5和n=5、7以及m=6和n=3、4、5、7的四聚体显示出单层手性近晶C*相,其形成的驱动力可能是不同介晶基团横截面积的不匹配。具有m=6和n=10、11的四聚体显示出四重交错排列的近晶A相,其特征是近晶层周期与估计分子长度之比仅为0.23。该相形成的驱动力被认为是不同介晶单元之间的特定静电相互作用,而相的形成强烈依赖于间隔基的长度和奇偶性,这是由于堆积限制。在冷却过程中,对于这两个四聚体,从交错排列的近晶A相到交错排列的交替手性近晶C*相,出现了一个新的相变,这种相变可能是由外部柔性间隔基的构象变化驱动的,其中层由混合介晶基团或仅由胆固醇基部分组成。