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Title: Distinct differences in the nanoscale behaviors of the twist–bend liquid crystal phase of a flexible linear trimer and homologous dimer

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.

Authors:
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Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1512552
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1542405
Grant/Contract Number:  
ALS Doctoral Fellowship in Residence; AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1420736; DMR-1307674
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 116 Journal Issue: 22; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; liquid crystal; twist–bend nematic; trimer; heliconical; RSoXS

Citation Formats

Tuchband, Michael R., Paterson, Daniel A., Salamończyk, Mirosław, Norman, Victoria A., Scarbrough, Alyssa N., Forsyth, Ewan, Garcia, Edgardo, Wang, Cheng, Storey, John M. D., Walba, David M., Sprunt, Samuel, Jákli, Antal, Zhu, Chenhui, Imrie, Corrie T., and Clark, Noel A. Distinct differences in the nanoscale behaviors of the twist–bend liquid crystal phase of a flexible linear trimer and homologous dimer. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1073/pnas.1821372116.
Tuchband, Michael R., Paterson, Daniel A., Salamończyk, Mirosław, Norman, Victoria A., Scarbrough, Alyssa N., Forsyth, Ewan, Garcia, Edgardo, Wang, Cheng, Storey, John M. D., Walba, David M., Sprunt, Samuel, Jákli, Antal, Zhu, Chenhui, Imrie, Corrie T., & Clark, Noel A. Distinct differences in the nanoscale behaviors of the twist–bend liquid crystal phase of a flexible linear trimer and homologous dimer. United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821372116
Tuchband, Michael R., Paterson, Daniel A., Salamończyk, Mirosław, Norman, Victoria A., Scarbrough, Alyssa N., Forsyth, Ewan, Garcia, Edgardo, Wang, Cheng, Storey, John M. D., Walba, David M., Sprunt, Samuel, Jákli, Antal, Zhu, Chenhui, Imrie, Corrie T., and Clark, Noel A. Tue . "Distinct differences in the nanoscale behaviors of the twist–bend liquid crystal phase of a flexible linear trimer and homologous dimer". United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821372116.
@article{osti_1512552,
title = {Distinct differences in the nanoscale behaviors of the twist–bend liquid crystal phase of a flexible linear trimer and homologous dimer},
author = {Tuchband, Michael R. and Paterson, Daniel A. and Salamończyk, Mirosław and Norman, Victoria A. and Scarbrough, Alyssa N. and Forsyth, Ewan and Garcia, Edgardo and Wang, Cheng and Storey, John M. D. and Walba, David M. and Sprunt, Samuel and Jákli, Antal and Zhu, Chenhui and Imrie, Corrie T. and Clark, Noel A.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1821372116},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
number = 22,
volume = 116,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821372116

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 57 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: Molecular structure of CB6OBO6CB and CB6OCB and polarized light microscopy images of the trimer. (A) Molecular structure drawings of CB6OBO6CB and CB6OCB, which we denote trimer and dimer, respectively. Polarized light microscopy images of the trimer in the nematic phase (B) and the TB phase (C).

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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.