Cyclosiloxane-based liquid-crystalline elastomers containing fluorinated mesogens and chiral crosslinking groups

A series of chiral fluorinated liquid-crystalline elastomers (LCEs) IP-VIP are prepared by 4-cyano-3-fluorophenyl 4′-(undec-10-enoyloxy)biphenyl-4-carboxylate, isosorbide bis(4-allyloxybenzoate) and 2,4,6,8-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane via Pt-catalyzed hydrosilylation. The chiral crosslinking moieties increase from IP to IVP. The elastomers IP, IIP, and IIIP containing low content of chiral crosslinking moieties display S_C ^* liquid-crystalline phase, but IVP, VP, and VIP do not show S_C ^* phase except for N^* mesophase. The mesophase is testified according to typical diffractogram measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The layer spacings of the LCEs decrease from IP (d-spacing of 34.2 Å) to VIP (d-spacing of 31.6 Å) with increase of chiral crosslinking groups in the polymers systems. Moreover, the optical properties are performed by ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared spectrophotometry. VP and VIP containing the most chiral crosslinking moieties display maximum reflection in near infrared spectra in the measurement of optical properties, while IP, IIP, IIIP, and IVP do not show obvious maximum reflection. It is interesting that a specific reflection of circularly polarized light appears along with a changing mesophase due to high enough concentration of chiral crosslinking dopants for VP and VIP. All these results suggest that the chiral crosslinking moieties exert influence on the structures of these kinds of LCEs.     

Side-chain cholesteric liquid crystalline elastomers derived from a mesogenic crosslinking agent: I. Synthesis and mesomorphic properties

The synthesis of new side-chain cholesteric elastomers derived from a cholesteric monomer and mesogenic crosslinking agent is presented. The chemical structures of the monomers obtained were confirmed by elemental analyses, FT-IR, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR. The mesomorphic properties and thermal stability were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), polarizing optical microscopy (POM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. M₁ showed cholesteric phase, and M₂ displayed enantiotropic nematic phase and monotropic smectic phase. The elastomers containing less than 12 mol% of the crosslinking units revealed reversible mesomorphic phase transition, wide mesophase temperature ranges, and high thermal stability.     

Synthesis and characterization of liquid crystalline elastomers bearing fluorinated mesogenic units and crosslinking mesogens

Several new side‐chain liquid crystalline (LC) polysiloxanes and elastomers ( IP ‐ VIP ) bearing fluorinated mesogenic units and crosslinking mesogens were synthesized by a one‐step hydrosilylation reaction with poly(methylhydrogeno)siloxane, a fluorine‐containing LC monomer 4′‐undec‐10‐enoyloxy‐biphenyl‐4‐yl 4‐fluoro‐benzoate and a crosslinking LC monomer 4′‐(4‐allyloxy‐benzoxy)‐biphenyl‐4‐yl 4‐allyloxy‐benzoate. The chemical structures and LC properties of the monomers and polymers were characterized by use of various experimental techniques such as FTIR, ¹H‐NMR, EA, TGA, DSC, POM and XRD. The effect of crosslinking mesogens on mesomorphic properties of the fluorinated LC polymers was studied as well. The obtained polymers and elastomers were soluble in many solvents such as toluene, tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, and so forth. The temperatures at which 5% weight loss occurred (T_d) were greater than 250°C for all the polymers, and the weight of residue near 600°C increased slightly with increase of the crosslinking mesogens in the fluorinated polymer systems. The samples IP , IIP , IIIP and IVP showed both smectic A and nematic phases when they were heated and cooled, but VP and VIP exhibited only a nematic mesophase. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of polymers increased slightly with increase of crosslinking mesogens in the polymer systems, but the mesophase–isotropic phase transition temperature (T_i) and smectic A–nematic mesophase transition temperature (T_S‐N) decreased slightly. It suggests that the temperature range of the mesophase became narrow with the increase of crosslinking mesogens for all the fluorinated polymers and elastomers. In XRD curves, the intensity of sharp reflections at low angle decreased with increase of crosslinking mesogens in the fluorinated polymers systems, indicating that the smectic order derived from fluorinated mesogenic units should be destroyed by introduction of more crosslinking mesogens. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chiral side-chain liquid crystalline polysiloxanes bearing fluorinated mesogens and cholesteryl groups

A series of chiral side-chain liquid crystalline (LC) polysiloxanes bearing fluorinated mesogens were synthesized with a cholesteric LC monomer and a fluorinated nematic LC monomer. They were characterized by use of various experimental techniques, and effect of fluorinated mesogens on characteristic of LC polysiloxanes was studied as well. In photoluminescence spectra, a narrow and a broad peak occur at around 270-317 nm, originated, respectively, from fluorinated phenyl groups and the conjugated xenene structure. The specific rotation analysis of all polymers showed negative values, but absolute values were lower than those of the chiral monomers. All polymers showed smectic LC phase with very wide temperature ranges on heating and cooling cycles. Especially, only polymers bearing more fluorinated component exhibited smectic-cholesteric phase transition when they were heated. As the polymers contained more fluorinated mesogens, segregation of the fluorinated segment to the surface should occur at mesomorphic temperature. The highly ordered lamellar mesogen-siloxane matrix systems should be disturbed severely by separation of fluorinated mesogens, suggesting mesogenic orders transition from lamellar smectic to cholesteric phase.     

Polymeric liquid crystals: structural basis for ferroelectric and nonlinear optical properties

This paper describes the rational design and structure–property relations in three different types of polar LC polymers with interesting material properties, as follows. (i) Chiral LC polymers, which are functionalized with crosslinkable groups, can be converted into LC elastomers with chiral smectic C^* phases. The mechanical orientability of these elastomers leads to new piezoelectric materials. (ii) The curing (dense crosslinking) of a polymer matrix provides one possibility of stabilizing the polar order of dye molecules, which is necessary for frequency doubling. Additionally, LC phases can help to stabilize this polar structure, which leads to large and stable nonlinear optical coefficients. (iii) Polymer analogous esterifications offer a convenient method for the synthesis of chiral smectic C^* polymers with large ferrolectric polarizations.     

Controlled self-assembly of chiral gelator molecules into aligned fibers induced by nematic to smectic B phase transitions

Chiral bisoxalamide 1 shows remarkable gelling capacity of the nematic and smectic B liquid-crystalline phases of heptylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid (HCCA). Chiral nematic-containing left-handed helical fiber bundles are formed if the gelator is present in amounts higher than 0.55 wt %. With lower amounts of 1, no nematic gel forms, however, a nematic to smectic B phase transition triggers instantaneous self-assembly of gelator molecules into aligned fibers. The latter liquid crystalline gel system represents an example of controlled self-assembly induced by a liquid crystalline phase transition.     

Dynamic mechanical and thermal behavior of liquid-crystalline polybutadiene-diols with mesogenic groups in side chains

Liquid-crystalline polybutadiene-diols (LCPBDs) with the comb-like architecture were synthesized by reaction of a LC thiol with the double bonds of telechelic HO-terminated polybutadiene (PBD). LCPBDs with various initial molar ratios of thiol to double bonds of PBD, R₀, in the range from 0.15 to 1, were prepared by the radical reaction at temperature 60 °C for 48 h. The experimentally obtained degree of modification, R_e, after the reaction and purification, was determined from elemental analysis - from the amount of sulphur bounded in LCPBDs, GPC and from ¹H NMR spectra. The physical properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical spectroscopy. With increasing R_e ratio the glass transition temperature of LCPBDs, T_g, increases from ∼ − 45 °C (neat PBD) to ∼20 °C (R_e ∼ 0.5). LC transition starts at R_e ∼ 0.27 (the transition temperature T_m ∼ 27 °C). With increasing R_e temperature T_m increases and for R_e ∼ 0.5 reaches the value T_m ∼ 74 °C; at the same time also the change in enthalpy at LC transition increases. The LC transition could be detected also by the dynamic mechanical spectroscopy; especially shape and position of mechanical functions on frequency and free volume parameters strongly depend on degree of modification.     

Thermal characterisation of thermotropic nematic liquid-crystalline elastomers

Nematic liquid-crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are weakly cross-linked polymeric networks that exhibit rubber elasticity and liquid-crystalline orientational order due to the presence of mesogenic groups. Three end-on side-chain nematic LCEs were investigated using real-time synchrotron wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TG) to correlate the thermal behaviour with structural and chemical differences among them. The elastomers differed in cross-linking density and mesogen composition. Thermally reversible glass transition temperature, T_g, and nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature, T_ni, were observed upon heating and cooling. By varying the heating rate, T_g⁰ and T_ni⁰ were determined at zero heating rate. The temperature dependence of the orientational order parameter was determined from the anisotropic azimuthal angular distribution of equatorial reflections seen during real-time WAXS. Results show that the choice of cross-linking unit, its shape, density, and structure of co-monomers, all influence the temperature range over which the thermal transitions take place. Including multi-ring aromatic groups as cross-linkers increased the effective stiffness of the cross-linking, resulting in a higher glass transition temperature. The nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature increased in the presence of multi-ring aromatic structures, as either cross-linkers or mesogens, particularly when the multi-ring structures were larger than the low-molar-mass mesogen common to all three samples.     

Chiral organotin complexes stabilized by C,N-chelating oxazolinyl-o-carboranes

A series of chiral organotin halides containing 2-(4-R)-oxazolinyl-o-carboranes (R = i-propyl 1, t-butyl 2; Cab^Oxa) was prepared from o-carborane with a chiral oxazoline auxiliary. X-ray structural analysis of the representative chiral organotin halide, [2-(4-i-propyl)-oxazolinyl-o-carboranyl]SnMe₂Br (4), revealed the formation of a stable penta-coordinated tin center due to a N → Sn interaction. Similar O → Sn assisted intramolecular penta-coordinated tin complexes (9 and 10) were prepared from methoxy-o-carborane ligands, MeOCH(Z)-o-carborane (Z = H 7, Ph 8; Cab^OMe), respectively, and a rigid o-carboranyl backbone provided the basic skeleton for the facile formation of organotin complexes.     

Ultrastructure studies of polystyrene-based side-chain liquid-crystalline copolymers containing charge transfer groups

A series of new side-chain liquid-crystalline copolymers has been prepared, and the thermal properties of the individual copolymers have been determined. These copolymers are derived from atactic polystyrene and contain both 4-methoxyazobenzene and 4-nitroazobenzene mesogens; these are linked through octyl spacers to the polystyrene backbone. All the copolymers exhibit a smectic phase that has been assigned smectic A on the basis of polarizing microscopy and x-ray diffraction studies. The glass transition temperatures of the polymers exhibit a linear dependence on composition, whereas the clearing temperatures and the associated entropies show significant deviations from such behavior. The smecticisotropic transition temperatures of the copolymers are higher than those of the composition-weighted averages for the corresponding homopolymers, whereas the entropies of transition are lower than expected. X-ray diffraction studies of fiber samples revealed that the director of the mesophase is oriented perpendicular to the fiber axis. The liquid-crystalline polystyrene containing 25 mol % nitro-substituted mesogen shows an unusual S_A-phase WAXS pattern. The copolymers were investigated further by ¹³C CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy, and the observed changes in the spectra are analyzed in terms of chemical composition and local electronic environment. The application of the interrupted decoupling technique revealed that the spacer contains a number of gauche defects. These observations lead us to suggest possible microstructural arrangements in the smectic phase. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Enantioselective allylation of alkyl glyoxylates catalyzed by (salen)chromium(III) complexes

The enantioselective addition of allylstannanes and allylsilanes to alkyl glyoxylates of type 1, catalyzed by chiral (salen)Cr(III) complexes 3, has been studied. We have found that the reaction proceeded smoothly for low loading (1-2 mol %) of (1R,2R)-(salen)Cr(III)BF₄3a or (1R,2R)-(salen)Cr(III)ClO₄3c, and allyltributyltin under simple, undemanding conditions, affording (R)-2-hydroxypent-4-enoic acid esters 2 in good yield (61-90%) and enantioselectivity (58-76% ee).     

Chiral self-assembly of triorganotin complexes: Syntheses, characterization, crystal structures and antitumor activity of organotin(IV) complexes containing (R)-(+)-methylsuccinic acid, (S)-(+)-methylglutaric acid and l-(−)-malic acid ligands

Six new chiral triorganotin(IV) complexes, {(R₃Sn)₂[C₃H₆(COO)₂]}_n (R = Me: 1; Bu: 2), {(R₃Sn)₂[C₄H₈(COO)₂]}_n (R = Me: 3; Bu: 4), and {(R₃Sn)₂[C₂H₄O(COO)₂]}_n (R = Me: 5; Bu: 6) have been prepared by treatment of (R)-(+)-methylsuccinic acid, (S)-(+)-methylglutaric acid and l-(−)-malic acid, with the corresponding R₃SnCl (R = Me, Bu) and sodium ethoxide in methanol. All the complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, NMR (¹H, ¹³C, ¹¹⁹Sn) spectroscopy and TGA. Except for 3, all of the complexes were also characterized by X-ray crystallography. The structural analyses reveal that complexes 1 and 5 have 2D network structures in which (R)-(+)-methylsuccinic acid and l-(−)-malic acid act as tetradentate ligands coordinated to trimethyltin(IV) ions. Complexes 2 and 4 have 3D metal-organic framework structures in which the deprotoned acids serve as tetradentate ligands. Complex 6 adopts a 1D zigzag chain structure and forms a 2D supramolecular framework through intermolecular C-H?O interactions. In addition, the antitumor activities of complexes 1-6 have been studied. We also have measured the specific rotation of the chiral dicarboxylic acids and the organotin derivatives.     

Unusual spin gap transition observed in two new molecular magnets based on [Ni(mnt)2] monoanion (mnt=maleonitriledithiolate)

Two new molecular magnets, [RBzPyN(CH₃)₂][Ni(mnt)₂] [mnt²⁻=maleonitriledithiolate; [RBzPyN(CH₃)₂]⁺=1-(4′-R-benzyl)-4-dimethylaminopyridinium; R=CN(1), F(2)], with unusual magnetic properties have been prepared and characterized. Both 1 and 2 form a 3D network structure in which the [Ni(mnt)₂]⁻ anions form a 1D magnetic chain for 1 and a stepwise stack for 2via weak π…π stacking interactions, C…C or C…N short interactions between the neighboring anions. Magnetic susceptibility measurements in the temperature range 1.8-300 K indicated that 1 and 2 show unusual spin gap transition around 30 K and 110 K, respectively. The transition for 1 and 2 is the second-order phase transition as determined by the capacity measurement.     

Effect of chiral isosorbide groups on mesomorphic properties of side-chain liquid-crystalline polysiloxanes

Chiral side-chain liquid-crystalline (LC) polysiloxanes containing isosorbide groups were graft copolymerised with poly(methylhydrogeno)siloxane, a chiral LC monomer 6-(4-methoxy-benzoyloxy)-hexahydro-furo[3,2-b]furan-3-yl 4'-(4-undec-10-enoyloxy-benzoyloxy)-biphenyl-4-yl adipate and a nematic LC monomer 4'-(4-methoxy-benzoyloxy)-biphenyl-4-yl 4-(2-undec-10-enoyloxy-ethoxy)-benzoate. The chemical structures and LC properties of the monomers and polymers were characterised by use of various experimental techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), element analyses (EA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarised optical microscopy (POM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). All the chiral LC polymers showed LC properties with very wide mesophase temperature ranges and the chiral component in the LC polymer systems lead to the appearance of a cholesteric phase. The polymers bearing most chiral LC monomer component showed smectic phases by reason of regular structures in the polymer systems. With the increase of another nematic LC monomer in the polymers, the regular polymer structures were destroyed because of different chemical structures between the two kinds of LC monomers, leading to the disappearance of the smectic arrangement.     

Enantioselective alkynylation to aldimines catalyzed by chiral 2,2′-di(2-aminoaryloxy)-1,1′-binaphthyl-copper(I) complexes

The enantioselective alkynylation of aldimines with terminal acetylenes catalyzed by chiral Cu(I) complexes with (R)-2,2′-di(2-aminoaryloxy)-1,1′-binaphthyl ligands (7) was examined. Chiral C₂-symmetric N,N-ligands 7, which have primary aniline moieties, were readily prepared from inexpensive (R)-1,1′-binaphthol (BINOL) as a chiral source. In particular, the reaction of N-benzylidenebenzeneamine 1a with phenylacetylene 2a proceeded smoothly in the presence of 5 mol % of (CuOTf)₂·C₆H₅CH₃ and 10 mol % of (R)-7d at room temperature for 24 h, and the corresponding propargylamine 3a was obtained with up to 82% ee.     

Synthesis and decarboxylation of N-acyl-α-triphenylphosphonio-α-amino acids: a new synthesis of α-(N-acylamino)alkyltriphenylphosphonium salts

4-Phosphoranylidene-5(4H)-oxazolones 1 undergo hydrolysis in THF in the presence of HBF₄ at room temperature to give N-acyl-α-triphenylphosphonioglycines 3 (R² = H) in very good yields. 4-Alkyl-4-triphenylphosphonio-5(4H)-oxazolones 2 react with water in CH₂Cl₂/THF solution without any acidic catalyst at 0-5 °C in a few days yielding N-acyl-α-triphenylphosphonio-α-amino acids 3 (R² = Me) or α-(N-acylamino)alkyltriphenylphosphonium salt 4 (R² = CH₂OMe). α-Triphenylphosphonio-α-amino acids 3, on heating up to 105-115 °C under reduced pressure (5 mmHg) or on treatment with diisopropylethylamine in CH₂Cl₂ at 20 °C undergo decarboxylation to give the corresponding α-(N-acylamino)alkyltriphenylphosphonium salts 4, usually in very good yields.     

Liquid crystal behaviour of ionic allylpalladium complexes containing 2-pyrazolylpyridine as bidentate N,N′-ligand

Two types of Pd-complexes containing the new N,N′-ligands 2-[3-(4-alkyloxyphenyl)pyrazol-1-yl]pyridine (pz^Rpy; R = C₆H₄OC_nH_2n+1, n = 6 (hp), 10 (dp), 12 (ddp), 14 (tdp), 16 (hdp), 18 (odp)) (1-6), namely c-[Pd(Cl)₂(pz^Rpy)] (7-10) and c-[Pd(η³-C₃H₅)(pz^Rpy)]BF₄ (11-16), have been synthesised and characterised by different spectroscopic techniques. Those members of the second type containing the largest chains (R = ddp 13, tdp 14, hdp 15, odp 16) have been found to have liquid crystal properties showing smectic A mesophases. By contrast, neither the free ligands pz^Rpy nor their related c-[Pd(Cl)₂(pz^Rpy)] complexes exhibited mesomorphism. The new synthesised metallomesogens are mononuclear complexes with an unsymmetrical molecular shape as deduced from the X-ray structures of c-[Pd(η³-C₃H₅)(pz^Rpy)]BF₄ (R = hp, 11; dp, 12). Both compounds, which are isostructural, show a distorted square-planar environment on the palladium centres defined by the allyl and the bidentate pz^Rpy ligands. The crystal structure reveals that both the counteranion and the pz^Rpy ligand function as a source of hydrogen-bonding and intermolecular π?π contacts resulting in a ²D supramolecular assembly.     

Transition-metal complexes of phenoxy-imine ligands modified with pendant imidazolium salts: Synthesis, characterisation and testing as ethylene polymerisation catalysts

Reaction between 3-((1R,2R)-2-{[1-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxy-phenyl)-meth-(E)-ylidene]-amino}-cyclohexyl)-1-isopropyl-4-phenyl-3H-imidazol-1-ium bromide (1a) or the derivative 3-((1R,2R)-2-{[1-(2-hydroxy-5-nitro-phenyl)-meth-(E)-ylidene]-amino}-cyclohexyl)-1-isopropyl-4-phenyl-3H-imidazol-1-ium bromide (1b) and metal halides MCl_x.yTHF (M = Zr, x = 4, y = 2; M = V, x = y = 3; M = Cr, x = y = 3), in THF, at −78 °C gives the metal complexes of general formula [MCl_x(κ²-N,O-OC₆H₂R¹R²C(H)N-C₆H₁₀-Im)₂][Br]₂ (where M = Zr, x = 2, R¹ = R² = ^tBu, 2; M = Zr, x = 2, R¹ = H, R² = NO₂, 3; M = V, x = 1, R¹ = R² = ^tBu, 4; M = Cr, x = 1, R¹ = R² = ^tBu, 5; M = Fe, x = 0, R¹ = R² = ^tBu, 6; Im = 1-isopropyl-4-phenyl-3H-imidazol-1-ium-3-yl). ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy of 2 and 3 indicate κ²-N,O-ligand coordination via the phenoxy-imine moiety with pendant imidazolium salt that is corroborated by a single crystal structure of 6. Compounds 2, 3, 4 and 5 were tested as precatalysts for ethylene polymerisation in the presence of methylaluminoxane (MAO) cocatalyst, showing low activity. Selected polymer samples were characterised by GPC showing multimodal molecular weight distributions.     

Synthesis and isolation of a monoamine having a thermodynamically stabilized pseudo-chirotopic nitrogen

We have synthesized a tricyclic monoamine, (1S,4R)-(E)-7,3′-heptenylene-2,3:5,6-dibenzo-7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane (1), by applying a ring-closing metathesis reaction in the key step of the synthetic route and by using preparative chiral HPLC for the separation. The X-ray crystallographic analysis of its salt with (1R)-camphor-10-sulfonic acid showed that the geometry and absolute configuration are (E) and (1S,4R), respectively. The theoretical calculations revealed that the inversion of the nitrogen atom at the 7-position of (1S,4R)-(E)-1 thus isolated takes place through a very slow process and that the configuration of the N(7) is highly biased to (R), indicating that (1S,4R)-(E)-1 is a thermodynamically controlled N-pseudo-chirotopic compound ((1S,4R,7R): (1S,4R,7S) = 99.68:0.32 at 120 °C).