23812-34-2Relevant academic research and scientific papers
Controlling the formation of heliconical smectic phases by molecular design of achiral bent-core molecules
Alaasar, Mohamed,Cai, Xiaoqian,Eremin, Alexey,Kurachkina, Marharyta,Lehmann, Anne,Liu, Feng,Nagaraj, Mamatha,Poppe, Marco,Poppe, Silvio,Tamba, Maria-Gabriela,Tschierske, Carsten,Vij, Jagdish K.
supporting information, p. 3316 - 3336 (2020/03/23)
Fluids with spontaneous helical structures formed by achiral low molecular mass molecules is a newly emerging field with great application potential. Here, we explore the chemical mechanisms of the helix formation by systematically modifying the structure of a bent 4-cyanoresorcinol unit functionalized with two different phenyl benzoate based aromatic rods and terminated with two alkyl chains of variable length. The majority of these achiral compounds self-assemble, forming a short-pitch heliconical liquid crystalline phase in broad temperature ranges. In some cases, it occurs without any competing low-temperature phase. We demonstrate that the mirror symmetry broken mesophase occurs at the paraelectric-(anti)ferroelectric transition if the tilt angle of the molecules in the smectic layers is around 18-20° and if this transition coincides with a change of the tilt correlation between the layers. In the close vicinity of this transition, a field-induced heliconical phase develops as well as a new heliconical phase with polarization-randomized structure. These investigations provide a blueprint for the future design of achiral molecules capable of spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking by the formation of heliconical liquid crystalline phases.
New insights into the mechanism of triplet radical-pair combinations. The persistent radical effect masks the distinction between in-cage and out-of-cage processes
Chesta, Carlos A.,Mohanty, Jyotirmayee,Nau, Werner M.,Bhattacharjee, Urbashi,Weiss, Richard G.
, p. 5012 - 5022 (2008/02/07)
Steady-state and laser-pulsed irradiations of dibenzyl ketone (ACOB 0) and derivatives with a p-methyl or a p-hexadecyl chain (ACOB 1 and ACOB16, respectively) have been conducted in polyethylene films with 0, 46, and 68% crystallinities. Calculation of the fractions of in-cage combinations of the triplet benzylic radical-pair intermediates based on photoproduct yields, Fc, from ACOB 16 are shown to be incorrect as a result of the kinetic consequences of drastically different diffusion coefficients for the benzyl and p-hexadecylbenzyl radicals. Careful analyses of the transient absorption traces, based upon a new model developed here, allow the correct cage effects to be determined even from ACOB0. The model also permits the rate constants for radical-pair combinations and escape from their cage of origin to be calculated using either an iterative fitting procedure or a very simple one which requires only k-CO and the intensities of the transient absorption immediately after the flash and after the in-cage portion of reaction by the benzylic radicals is completed. Values of the rate constant for decarbonylation of the initially formed arylacetyl radicals, k-CO, have been measured from the rise portions of the laser-flash transient absorption traces. They confirm the assertion from results in liquid alkane media that decarbonylation rates are independent of microviscosity. The data separate components of a reaction from an (in-cage) "cage effect" and an (out-of-cage) "persistent radical effect" that are responsible for formation of AB-type (i.e., decarbonylated) products. The effects here are a consequence of vastly different rates of diffusion for coreacting A· and B· benzylic radicals rather than segregation of the radicals in different parts of a hetereogeneous environment (which leads to an excess of AA and BB products). Heretofore, observation of exclusive formation of AB products has been attributed to in-cage combinations of geminate radical pairs. We show that not to be the case here and provide methodologies which may be used for testing the importance of the "persistent radical effect" component of reaction.
