Charge-transport in crystalline organic semiconductors with liquid crystalline order

We report the design and synthesis of a liquid crystalline material exhibiting highly ordered smectic phases and high charge carrier-mobility; by a process known as "paramorphosis" highly ordered smectic phases can be transferred to the amorphous crystalline state on crystallisation without the formation of significant crystal grain boundaries and deep traps.     

Structural models for some crystalline and liquid crystalline polymers

Structural models for the crystalline and liquid crystalline smectic phase are presented for polymethylsiloxanes with mesogenic side groups and for some crystalline and lyotropic liquid crystalline cholesteric phases of cellulose derivatives. Optical and X-ray methods have been applied in these investigations.     

Liquid crystalline calixarenes

Bowl-shaped (bowlic) liquid crystals are reviewed and new bowlic materials containing rigid tungsten-oxo calix[4]arene based cores are discussed. Tungsten-oxo calix[4]arenes with 8 and 12 dodecyloxy sidechains have been investigated and exhibit bowlic columnar phases which are stable over approximately a 200° temperature range. The uncomplexed tetra-phenol ligands display only a transient liquid crystallinity on the first heating, and the conformational rigidity provided through tungsten-oxo complexation is necessary for well behaved mesomorphism. For the 8 sidechain analog the clearing point is at 320°C and the addition of four more sidechains results in a lower clearing point at 267°C. Polarized optical microscopy and DSC indicate that the 12 sidechain analog displays a phase with the columns packed in a hexagonal lattice which is conductive to the formation of polar phases. Both complexes exhibit a pronounced tendency to bind Lewis base guests in their cavities, and DMF forms very strong complexes which were spectroscopically characterized. The DMF guest produces large effects on the phase behavior by suppressing mesomorphism and lowering the isotropic points by 115°C and 84°C for the 8 and 12 sidechain compounds respectively. This extreme sensitivity to the DMF guest is conclusive proof that bowlic tungsten-oxo calix[4]arene liquid crystals organize in head-to-tail structures.This paper is dedicated to the commemorative issue on the 50th anniversary of calixarenes.     

Liquid crystalline photoconductors

Abstract

The influence of molecular order as well as of orientation of charge carrier units on photoconductivity has been investigated for the liquid crystal photoconductors H5T (1), thiadiazole (2) and oxadiazole (3). The discotic H5T (1) and both smectic systems 2 and 3 exhibit a higher photocurrent in the highly ordered mesophase than in the polycrystalline or isotropic state. For 1, results concerning charge carrier transport mechanism and Dember effect are given indicating an electronic charge transport comparable with the one known for single crystalline anthracene.     

Liquid crystalline networks

The last 2 years have seen significant advances in synthesis, physical experiment and theory. Highlights include the experimental confirmation of the soft elasticity effect and the penetration of the ideas of random disorder into the field of polymer structure and rheology.     

Liquid crystalline polymers

The suitabilities of thermo-optometry and differential scanning calorimetry for the characterization of certain copolyethers were compared. Under certain conditions, such polymers do not exhibit the endotherm signal corresponding to the solid/liquid crystalline transition in the DSC curves. Thermo-optometry provides evidence of these phase transitions into the liquid crystalline state, and is a very useful additional method.     

Liquid crystalline photoconductors

The influence of molecular order as well as of orientation of charge carrier units on photoconductivity has been investigated for the liquid crystal photoconductors H5T (1), thiadiazole (2) and oxadiazole (3). The discotic H5T (1) and both smectic systems 2 and 3 exhibit a higher photocurrent in the highly ordered mesophase than in the polycrystalline or isotropic state. For 1, results concerning charge carrier transport mechanism and Dember effect are given indicating an electronic charge transport comparable with the one known for single crystalline anthracene.     

Highly fluorescent crystalline and liquid crystalline columnar phases of pyrene-based structures

A concept for highly ordered solid-state structures with bright fluorescence is proposed: liquid crystals based on tetraethynylpyrene chromophores, where the rigid core is functionalized with flexible, promesogenic alkoxy chains. The synthesis of this novel material is presented. The thermotropic properties are studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), cross-polarized optical microscopy (POM), and X-ray diffraction. The mesogen possesses an enantiotropic Col(h) phase over a large temperature range before clearing. The material is highly fluorescent in solution and, most remarkably, in the condensed state, with a broad, strongly red shifted emission. Fluorescence quantum yields (Phi(F)) have been determined to be 70% in dichloromethane solution and 62% in the solid state. Concentration- and temperature-dependent absorption and emission studies as well as quantum-chemical calculations on isolated molecules and dimers are used to clarify the type of intermolecular interactions present as well as their influence on the fluorescence quantum yield and spectral properties of the material. The high luminescence efficiency in the solid state is ascribed to rotated chromophores, leading to an optically allowed lowest optical transition.     

The structure of 2,2'-difluorobiphenyl in solid crystalline and liquid crystalline phases

The structure of 2,2-difluorobiphenyl in the solid, crystalline phase has been determined by X-ray diffraction. In this phase the molecules are all in a single conformation having the two fluorine nuclei in a syn -arrangment, with the two ring normals at 58 to one another. The structure of the same molecule, but dissolved in a liquid crystalline solvent has been investigated by NMR spectroscopy. In the liquid crystalline phase there is rotation about the inter-ring bond through an angle phi , with a probability distribution P(phi) which has an absolute maximum at the syn-form with phi about 51 . There is also a second maximum in P(phi) at about 130 , corresponding to the anti-form. The syn- and anti-forms are present in the approximate ratio 0.58:0.42.     

Solid state crystalline and liquid crystalline structure of semifluorinated 1-bromoalkane compounds

A series of semifluorinated 1-bromoalkane (SFBA) mesogens have been synthesized and characterized to better understand their solid state crystalline and liquid crystalline structures. In the solid state, the local conformation of the fluorocarbon segments becomes disordered once the fluorocarbon chain reaches a length above eight CF units. This is evident from the pronounced decrease of molar melting enthalpy. An increasing amount of helix and helix reverse conformations and increasingly disordered packing can also be observed with each addition of a fluorocarbon segment. X-ray diffraction peaks in the small angle region can be indexed by a tilted, two dimensional layered (herring bone) structure. The crystal structure is similar to a type of plastic crystal in which the amphiphilic character is clear, because the two segments of fluorocarbon and hydrocarbon are almost immiscible. Heating of F(CF2)12(CH2)10Br leads to a transition from plastic crystal to smectic B, as revealed by time-resolved XRD and FTIR analysis. At this solid-to-liquid transition temperature, conformational analysis confirmed an onset of the CH2 gauche conformation within the hexagonal lattice, most likely due to changes occurring in the hydrocarbon segment, and a sudden increase of helix defects along the fluorocarbon segment. The disordered helix rigid-rod structure of the fluorocarbon segment and its poor compatibility with the hydrocarbon segment play an important role in the crystalline solid and liquid crystalline structures.     

Crystallization kinetical and morphological peculiarities in binary crystalline/crystalline polymer blends

A survey is presented on the crystallization kinetics and the morphology of miscible crystalline/crystalline polymer blends. There are only few corresponding systems. In them, however, a number of strange kinetic and structural phenomena can be observed: (i) spherulitic crystallization of the components side‐by‐side, (ii) “interpenetrating crystallization,” (iii) “interlocking spherulitic crystallization,” and (iv) “interfilling crystallization.” Cocrystallization is forbidden for crystallographic reasons. The blend partners grow instead in their own lamellar stacks, and mixed lamellar stacks are a seldom and questionable exception. They crystallize also usually stepwise and not simultaneously. Upon step crystallization, the crystallization of the second component is determined by its redistribution with crystallization of the former. Those composition inhomogeneities are an independent issue that arises also with the development of the morphology in crystalline/amorphous blends, and a corresponding survey is yielded, too. The blend poly (vinylidene fluoride)/poly‐β‐hydroxybutyrate is a convenient model system as it can show all of these morphological and kinetic features after suitable thermal treatment. Some of them are demonstrated in the present publication. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1917–1931, 2007     

Thermotropic liquid crystalline glycolipids

Are the liquid crystalline properties of the materials of living systems important in biological structures, functions, diseases and treatments? There is a growing consciousness that the observed lyotropic, and often thermotropic liquid crystallinity, of many biological materials that possess key biological functionality might be more than curious coincidence. Rather, as the survival of living systems depends on the flexibility and reformability of structures, it seems more likely that it is the combination of softness and structure of the liquid-crystalline state that determines the functionality of biological materials. The richest sources of liquid crystals derived from living systems are found in cell membranes, of these glycolipids are a particularly important class of components. In this critical review, we will examine the relationship between chemical structure and the self-assembling and self-organising properties of glycolipids that ultimately lead to mesophase formation.     

Liquid crystalline benzothiophene derivatives

The role and position of the benzothiophene core in several series of calamitic liquid crystals was examined. Benzothiophene and its lateral 3-chloro- and 6-methoxy-substituted derivatives, where the benzothiophene unit is in the terminal position, support formation of broad nematic phases. On the other hand, introduction of a longer alkoxy chain in the 6-position or positioning the benzothiophene in the centre of the molecular structure led to appearance of smectic C and/or smectic A phases.     

Single crystalline magnetite nanotubes

We descried a method to synthesize single crystalline Fe3O4 nanotubes by wet-etching the MgO inner cores of MgO/Fe3O4 core-shell nanowires. Homogeneous Fe3O4 nanotubes with controllable length, diameter, and wall thickness have been obtained. Resistivity of the Fe3O4 nanotubes was estimated to be approximately 4 x 10-2 Omega cm at room temperature. Magnetoresistance of approximately 1% was observed at T = 77 K when a magnetic field of B = 0.7 T was applied. The synthetic strategy presented here may be extended to a variety of materials such as YBCO, PZT, and LCMO which should provide ideal candidates for fundamental studies of superconductivity, piezoelectricity, and ferromagnetism in nanoscale structures.     

Liquid crystalline paracyclophane derivatives

Various paracyclophane derivatives incorporating 4,4'-biphenyl, 2,5-diphenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole, phenyl benzoate and 2,6-disubstituted naphthyl rigid cores were synthesized and their mesomorphic behaviour was studied using polarizing microscopy, DSC and X-ray diffraction. Most of these macrocyclic compounds possess liquid crystalline properties with unexpectedly high clearing temperatures compared to those of conventional calamitic mesogens. In this way, the coupling of two appropriate rigid units using flexible chains to form a macrocycle constitutes a new and powerful approach towards mesophase induction and stabilization. The types of mesophase formed by these macrocycles do not depend only on the nature of the bridging chains, but also strongly on the structure of the rigid aromatic system. The smectic A phase and the E phase are formed by polyetherbiphenylophanes. Poly-ethercyclophanes incorporating the 2,5-diphenylthiadiazole rigid core form nematic and smectic C phases. The nematic phase is the only mesophase when the rigid core is the phenyl benzoate unit. No mesomorphic properties could be detected for macrocycles which featured either the benzyl phenyl ether moiety or the 2,6-disubstituted naphthalene unit in their constitution.