Seminar

Unlike metallorganic (MOFs) or covalent organic (COFs) frameworks, liquid crystal materials do not possess porous structures. Nevertheless, liquid crystals are full of defects, in which guest molecules accumulate and either stabilise or even change the LC structure. Recently, shape-persistent mesogens have been reviewed, which provide intrinsic free space by design. [1] They offer another possibility of structural control by incorporation of guests within the intrinsic free space of their mesogenic scaffold either be physical mixing, supramolecular interaction (H-bond) or by covalent link via spacers. Using this design tool we were able to generate complex LC structures via hydrogen bonding. For example, co-assemblies of two different chromophores side-by-side in one column and donor-acceptor structures of phthalocyanines and fullerenes were realised by triple nanosegregation. Most recently the guests even induced the formation of bicontinuous cubic phases.

This contribution will highlight that the new design tool allows a whole new family of soft functional matter to be envisioned with a high structural and alignment control.   

References: [1] M. Lehmann, M. Dechant, M. Lambov, T. Ghosh, Acc. Chem. Res. 2019, 52, 1653.