Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Chen, Dong
• Maclennan, Joseph E
• Shao, Renfan
• Yoon, Dong Ki
• Wang, Haitao
• Korblova, Eva
• Walba, David M
• Glaser, Matthew A
• Clark, Noel A

Titel

Chirality-Preserving Growth of Helical Filaments in the B4 Phase of Bent-Core Liquid Crystals

Ist Teil von

• Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011-08, Vol.133 (32), p.12656-12663

Ort / Verlag

United States: American Chemical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

2011

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The growth of helical filaments in the B4 liquid-crystal phase was investigated in mixtures of the bent-core and calamitic mesogens NOBOW and 8CB. Freezing-point depression led to nucleation of the NOBOW B4 phase directly from the isotropic phase in the mixtures, forming large left- and right-handed chiral domains that were easily observed in the microscope. We show that these domains are composed of homochiral helical filaments formed in a nucleation and growth process that starts from a nucleus of arbitrary chirality and continues with chirality-preserving growth of the filaments. A model that accounts for the observed local homochirality and phase coherence of the branched filaments is proposed. This model will help in providing a better understanding of the nature of the B4 phase and controlling its growth and morphology for applications, such as the use of the helical nanophase as a nanoheterogeneous medium.