Liquid crystals based on the N-phenylpyridinium cation—mesomorphism and the effect of the anion

Jordan D. Herod, Duncan W. Bruce*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Families of symmetric, ionic, tetracatenar mesogens are described based on a rigid, N-phenylpyridinium core, prepared as their triflimide, octyl sulfate and dodecyl sulfate salts for a range of terminal chain lengths. The mesomorphism of the individual series is described before a comparison is drawn between the different families and then more broadly with (i) neutral tetracatenar materials and (ii) related bis(3,4-dialkoxystilbazole)silver(I) salts. For the octyl and dodecyl sulfates and the related triflates reported earlier, a SmA phase is seen at shorter chain lengths, giving way to a Colh phase as the terminal chain lengthens. For the alkyl sulfate salts, an intermediate cubic phase is also seen and the terminal chain length required to cause the change from lamellar to columnar mesophase depends on the anion. Furthermore, there is an unexpected and sometime very large mesophase stabilisation seen on entering the columnar phase. All of the triflimide salts show a rectangular columnar (ribbon) phase.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2653
Number of pages12
JournalMOLECULES
Volume26
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: The authors thank the University of York for funding.

© 2021 by the authors.

Keywords

  • Ionic
  • Ionic liquid
  • Liquid crystal
  • Polycatenar

Cite this