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Thermotropic Liquid Crystals (thermotropic + liquid_crystal)
Selected AbstractsTowards Efficient Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in Thermotropic Liquid CrystalsADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 19 2010Stefan Schymura Abstract Motivated by numerous recent reports indicating attractive properties of composite materials of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and liquid crystals (LCs) and a lack of research aimed at optimizing such composites, the process of dispersing CNTs in thermotropic LCs is systematically studied. LC hosts can perform comparably or even better than the best known organic solvents for CNTs such as N -methyl pyrrolidone (NMP), provided that the dispersion process and choice of LC material are optimized. The chemical structure of the molecules in the LC is very important; variations in core as well as in terminal alkyl chain influence the result. Several observations moreover indicate that the anisotropic nematic phase, aligning the nanotubes in the matrix, per se stabilizes the dispersion compared to a host that is isotropic and thus yields random tube orientation. The chemical and physical phenomena governing the preparation of the dispersion and its stability are identified, taking into account enthalpic, entropic, as well as kinetic factors. This allows a guideline on how to best design and prepare CNT,LC composites to be sketched, following which tailored development of new LCs may take the advanced functional material that CNT,LC composites comprise to the stage of commercial application. [source] Formation of Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Films at Interfaces Between Thermotropic Liquid Crystals and Aqueous Phases,ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 7 2006A. Lockwood Preparation of polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films at fluid interfaces between aqueous solutions and liquid crystals is described. The orientation of the liquid crystals is coupled to the presence and organization of the PEM films (see figure). The PEM films can selectively mediate the interactions between solutes and the interfaces of the liquid crystals. PEM films offer a general method to tailor the interfacial properties of liquid crystals for chemical or biological sensing. [source] Phase transition behavior and structure of the thermotropic liquid crystal 6-{[(4,-{[(undecyl)carbonyl]oxy}biphenyl-4yl)carbonyl]oxy}-1-hexyneCRYSTAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 9 2006Leijing Liu Abstract The phase transition behaviors and corresponding structures of 6-{[(4,-{[(undecyl)carbonyl]oxy}biphenyl-4yl)carbonyl]oxy}-1-hexyne (A4EE11) were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). In comparison with the published homologues, 5-{[(4,-heptoxy-biphenyl-4-yl)carbonyl]oxy}-1-pentyne (A3EO7) which shows a monotropic smectic A (SmA) phase and a metastable monotropic smectic C (SmC) phase; 5-{[(4,-heptoxy-biphenyl-4-yl)oxy]carbonyl}- 1-pentyne (A3E'O7) that exhibits three enantiotropic stable liquid crystalline (LC) phases, SmA phase, SmC phase and smectic X (SmX) phase; 5-{[(4,-heptoxy-biphenyl-4-yl)carbonyl]oxy}-1-undecyne (A9EO7) which has a monotropic SmA phase and a metastable crystal phase, A4EE11 integrates the enantiotropy, monotropy and metastability of the LC phases of those three compounds. Upon cooling from isotropic state to room temperature, in the temperature range of 62.0 to 58.5°C, A4EE11 shows an enantiotropic smectic A (SmA) phase with a layer spacing d=32.69Å. Further lowering the temperature, it enters into a metastable monotropic smectic B (SmB) phase with a longer layer spacing d=34.22Å which has a tendency towards crystallization. The metastability of the liquid crystalline phase may associate to the linkage order of the ester bridge between the mesogenic core and the flexible spacer. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Imidazolium based ionic liquid crystals: structure, photophysical and thermal behaviour of [Cnmim]Br·xH2O (n = 12, 14; x=0, 1)CRYSTAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 11 2008A. Getsis Abstract The long chain imidazolium halides [Cnmim]Br·xH2O (n = 10, 12; x = 0, 1) have been synthesized and their structural and thermal behaviour together with their photophysical properties characterized. X-ray structure analyses of the monohydrates ([C12mim]Br·H2O: triclinic, P1, no. 2, Z = 2, Pearson code aP112, a = 550.0(5) pm, b = 779.4(5) pm, c = 2296.1(5) pm, , = 81.89(5)°, , = 83.76(5)°, , = 78.102(5)°, 3523 unique reflections with Io > 2,(Io), R1 = 0.0263, wR2 = 0.0652, GooF = 1.037, T = 263(2) K; [C14mim]Br,H2O: triclinic, P1, no. 2, Z = 12, Pearson code aP11, a = 549.86(8) pm, 782.09(13) pm, c = 2511.3(4) pm, , = 94.86(2)°, , = 94.39(2)°, , = 101.83(2)°, 2063 unique reflections with Io > 2,(Io), R1 = 0.0429, wR2 = 0.0690, GooF = 0.770, T = 293(2) K) show for both compounds similar bilayered structures. Sheets composed of hydrophilic structure regions constituted by positively charged imidazolium head groups, bromide anions and hydrogen bonded water alternate with hydrophobic areas formed by interdigitated long alkyl chains belonging to imidazolium cations with different orientation. Combined differential scanning calorimetry and polarizing optical microscopy shows that the monohydrates as well as the anhydrous imidazolium salts are thermotropic liquid crystals which adopt smectic mesophases. The mesophase region is larger in case of the monohydrates when compared to the anhydrous compounds indicating that water obviously stabilizes the mesophase. All compounds show an intense whitish photoluminescence with short lived (1,,1,*) and long lived (1,,3,*) transitions. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Synthesis and Liquid Crystalline Properties of Mono-, Di- and Tri- O -alkyl Pentaerythritol Derivatives Bearing Tri-, Di- or Monogalactosyl Heads: The Effects of Curvature of Molecular Packing on Mesophase FormationCHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Issue 19 2007Fabienne Dumoulin Dr. Abstract Self-organisation and self-assembly are critical to the stability of synthetic and biological membranes. Of particular importance is consideration of the packing arrangements of the various molecular species. Both phospho- and glycolipids can pack in ways in which curvature can be introduced into self-organised or self-assembled systems. For instance, it is known that the degree of curvature can affect the structures of any condensed phases that are formed. In this article we report on a systematic study in which we have varied the shapes of glycolipids and examined the condensed phases that they form. In doing so, we have also unified the shape dependency of lyotropic liquid crystals with those of thermotropic liquid crystals. In order to undertake this systematic study a range of different pentaerythritol derivatives was synthesized, which covers combinations of one to three alkyl chains of different lengths (6,7,9,10,11,12,14,16 carbon atoms) and three to one galactosyl heads. Mono- and di- O -galactosyl derivatives were prepared directly by glycosylation of the corresponding alcohols using 2,3,4,6-tetra- O -benzoyl or acetyl - ,- D - galactopyranosyl trichloroacetimidate or bromide as the donors; the tri- O -galactosyl derivatives were synthesized from O -alkyl- O -benzyl di- O -galactosyl pentaerythritol intermediates, followed by de- O -benzylation and glycosylation steps. All of the fully deprotected products were obtained by standard methods, and their self-organising and self-assembling properties examined. [source] | ||||||||||