Tuchband, MR, Paterson, DA orcid.org/0000-0001-9425-720X, Salamończyk, M et al. (12 more authors) (2019) Distinct differences in the nanoscale behaviors of the twist–bend liquid crystal phase of a flexible linear trimer and homologous dimer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116 (22). pp. 10698-10704. ISSN 0027-8424
Abstract
We synthesized the liquid crystal dimer and trimer members of a series of flexible linear oligomers and characterized their microscopic and nanoscopic properties using resonant soft X-ray scattering and a number of other experimental techniques. On the microscopic scale, the twist–bend phases of the dimer and trimer appear essentially identical. However, while the liquid crystal dimer exhibits a temperature-dependent variation of its twist–bend helical pitch varying from 100 to 170 Å on heating, the trimer exhibits an essentially temperature-independent pitch of 66 Å, significantly shorter than those reported for other twist–bend forming materials in the literature. We attribute this to a specific combination of intrinsic conformational bend of the trimer molecules and a sterically favorable intercalation of the trimers over a commensurate fraction (two-thirds) of the molecular length. We develop a geometric model of the twist–bend phase for these materials with the molecules arranging into helical chain structures, and we fully determine their respective geometric parameters.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 2019 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND). |
Keywords: | liquid crystal; twist–bend nematic; trimer; heliconical; RSoXS |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Soft Matter Physics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Feb 2020 09:43 |
Last Modified: | 28 Feb 2020 09:43 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | National Academy of Sciences |
Identification Number: | 10.1073/pnas.1821372116 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:157388 |