A new strategy towards the synthesis of a room-temperature discotic nematic liquid crystal employing triphenylene and pentaalkynylbenzene units

Abstract

A new approach is reported for the design of a room-temperature discotic nematic (N_D) liquid crystal (LC) dimer consisting of a triphenylene and a pentaalkynylbenzene unit linked via flexible alkyl spacers. The formation of the N_D phase is realized most likely through folding of the dimeric molecule that prevent stacking between the triphenylene units, as suggested by modelling in the mesophase derived from X-ray scattering results and high-level DFT calculations.