Noncovalent interactions as a tool to design new bent-core liquid-crystal materials

A versatile and straightforward approach for the design and development of structure-activity studies into bent-core liquid crystals has been investigated. Through a broad selection of carboxylic acids linked to hydrogen acceptors through hydrogen bonds, structural modifications have been made in terms of length, chirality, and the introduction of a bulky group. In this way, bent-core twins have also been synthesized and studied. The noncovalent materials prepared exhibit lamellar and also columnar B-type mesophases that have been characterized by optical microscopy, calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and dielectric spectroscopy. These results have provided new data to increase our understanding of this attractive type of liquid crystal. Comparisons with covalent analogues have highlighted the broad possibilities of this approach.