Investigations of Novel Liquid Crystals

这个名为“新型液晶的研究”的项目侧重于基于互补形状和挫折的新型液晶结构类型和设计原则的研究。两个主要的新研究方向将被追求。弯曲棒介质将被研究，因为它们具有显示铁电相和双轴相的潜力。初步结果表明，非手性四烯端弯杆液晶可能表现为双轴向列相和铁电相（香蕉型）。基于这些结果，将对大量的衍生品进行系统的研究。其他系统的介质设计将专注于生产具有更大热力学稳定性和挫败感的液晶相。前者对应用程序很重要，后者将被探索为重新进入行为的途径。在重入向列相的情况下，提出了高反铁电相关作为产生双轴向列相的潜在手段。另一项倡议将关注手性柱状相。这项工作建立在关键结果的基础上，证明了流态八面体生金属液晶可以自发地分解成具有净手性的螺旋柱状相。这种效应高度依赖于中间相的对称性，在柱状六边形相中更受青睐。还提出了具有相反手性的材料的混合物可以组装成定义良好的六边形柱状超晶格。聚合这些超晶格的主要成分被认为是一种新型多孔手性材料的途径。所研制的液晶将具有光电性质。这类材料在信息处理和传输技术（光计算和光纤）中越来越重要。螺旋柱状液晶的设计可以转化为多孔材料，有可能形成新一代的对构象选择和分离材料。这些过程将影响广泛的社会需求，包括用于形成药物、聚合物、人工香料和其他材料的合成中间体的生产。

This project entitled Investigations of Novel Liquid Crystals focuses on the investigation of novel liquid crystal structure types and design principles based upon complementary shapes and frustration. Two major new directions of research will be pursued. Bent-rod mesogens will be studied as a result of their potential to display ferroelectric and biaxial phases. Preliminary results suggest that achiral tetracatenar bent-rod liquid crystals may display biaxial nematic and ferroelectric (banana type) phases. Based on these results systematic studies of a large number of derivatives will be undertaken. Other systematic mesogen designs will focus on producing liquid crystal phases with greater thermodynamic stability and frustration. The former will be important for applications and the latter will be explored as a route to re-entrance behavior. In cases of re-entrant nematics, the high antiferroelectric correlations are proposed as a potential means to generate a biaxial nematic phase. Another initiative will focus on chiral columnar phases. This effort builds on key results demonstrating that fluxional octahedral metallomesogenic liquid crystals can spontaneously resolve into helical columnar phases with net chirality in the mesogenic cores. This effect is highly dependent on the symmetry of the mesophase and is favored in columnar hexagonal phases. It is also proposed that mixtures of materials with opposite chirality may assemble into well-defined hexagonal columnar superlattices. Polymerization of the major component of these superlattices is proposed as a route to novel porous chiral materials.%%%The liquid crystals developed will have electro-optical properties. Such materials are of growing importance in information processing and transmission technologies (optical computation and fiber optics). The design of helical columnar liquid crystals that can be transformed into porous materials has the potential for the formation of new generation of enantioselective and separation materials. Such processes will impact a broad range of societal needs including the production of synthetic intermediates for the formation of drugs, polymers, artificial flavors, and other materials.