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“Janus” Supermolecular Liquid Crystals—Giant Molecules with Hemispherical Architectures
Author(s) -
Saez Isabel M.,
Goodby John W.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.200305100
Subject(s) - mesophase , mesogen , liquid crystal , mesoscopic physics , materials science , janus , nanotechnology , self assembly , molecule , chemical physics , polymer science , liquid crystalline , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , condensed matter physics , optoelectronics
Liquid crystals represent a unique class of self‐organising systems, which although found in many day‐to‐day practical material applications, such as displays, are also intimately entwined with living processes. They have the potential, just like living systems, to provide us with a unique vehicle for the development of self‐ordering nano‐ and mesoscopic‐engineered materials with specific functional properties. In this article we describe a new concept for the design of self‐assembling functional liquid crystals as segmented or “Janus” liquid‐crystalline supermolecular materials in the form of structures that contain two different types of mesogenic units, which favour different types of mesophase structure, grafted onto the same star‐shaped scaffold to create supermolecules that contain different hemispheres. The materials exhibit chiral nematic and chiral smectic C phases.