[5‐(p‐alkoxy)phenyl‐10, 15, 20‐tri‐phenyl] porphyrin and their rare earth complex liquid crystalline

Three series of porphyrin liquid crystalline compounds, [5‐(p‐alkoxy)phenyl‐10, 15, 20‐tri‐phenyl] porphyrin and their rare earth complexes (Tb (III), Dy (III), Er (III), Yb (III)), with a hexagonal columnar discotic columnar(Col_h) phase have been synthesized. These compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductances, UV‐visible spectra, infrared spectra, luminescence spectra, and cyclic voltammetry. These compounds exhibit more than one mesophases, which transition points of temperature change from ?33.6 to 16.0 °C, and transition points of temperature for isotropic liquid also increase from 4.9 to 38.2 °C, with increasing chain length. Their surface photovoltage (SPV) response have also been investigated by the means of surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) and field‐induced surface photovoltage spectroscopy (EFISPS). It was found that their SPV bands are analogous with the UV‐visible absorption spectra and derived from the same transition. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.