Nanostructured columnar and cubic liquid-crystalline assemblies consisting of unconventional rigid mesogens based on triphenylmethanes

Liquid-crystalline (LC) molecules of unconventional shapes that form columnar and micellar cubic structures have been synthesized using triarylmethyl moieties as building blocks. The molecules have bowl- and dumbbell-shape. Despite the rigidity and bulkiness of the triarylmethyl moieties, the molecules form columnar and micellar cubic LC phases. The bowl-shaped molecules containing one triarylmethyl moiety show LC phases. The LC temperature ranges of the dumbbell-shaped molecules containing two triarylmethyl moieties connected by rigid rods are wider than those of bowl-shaped molecules containing one triarylmethyl moiety. The UV–vis spectroscopy of the dumbbell-shaped molecules having a terphenyl moiety reveals that the terphenyl moieties aggregate in the mesophase.