Molecular Design of Liquid-Crystalline Block Molecules: Semifluorinated Pentaerythritol Tetrabenzoates Exhibiting Lamellar, Columnar, and Cubic Mesophases

Fluid assemblies of star-shaped molecules like 1 form a range of thermotropic liquid crystalline phases, and represent a borderline case between anisometric mesogens, surfactants, and block copolymers. The low molecular mass molecules (<5.5 kDa) consist of a semipolar central core and a shell of semifluorinated chains.