Liquid Crystalline Assembly of Coil-Rod-Coil Molecules with Lateral Methyl Groups into 3-D Hexagonal and Tetragonal Assemblies

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Zhuoshi Wang¹  Yu Lan¹  Keli Zhong³  Yongri Liang²  Tie Chen¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory for Organism Resources of the Changbai Mountain and Functional Molecules, Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Yanbian University, No.977 Gongyuan Road, Yanji 133002, China; E-Mails:;Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Joint Laboratory of Polymer Science and Materials, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; E-Mail:;College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Food Safety, Bohai University, Jinzhou 121013, China; E-Mail:

关键词: coil-rod-coil;    self-assembly;    columnar;    hexagonal;    tetragonal;    small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS);   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms15045634

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, we report the synthesis and self-assembly behavior of coil-rod-coil molecules, consisting of three biphenyls linked through a vinylene unit as a conjugated rod segment and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) with a degree of polymerization (DP) of 7, 12 and 17, incorporating lateral methyl groups between the rod and coil segments as the coil segment. Self-organized investigation of these molecules by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal polarized optical microscopy (POM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals that the lateral methyl groups attached to the surface of rod and coil segments, dramatically influence the self-assembling behavior in the liquid-crystalline mesophase. Molecule 1 with a relatively short PEO coil length (DP = 7) self-assembles into rectangular and oblique 2-dimensional columnar assemblies, whereas molecules 2 and 3 with DP of 12 and 17 respectively, spontaneously self-organize into unusual 3-dimensional hexagonal close-packed or body-centered tetragonal assemblies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland