Liquid crystals induced cholesteric

We arrive at this conclusion from the lack of more than a slight atropisomeric excess (ca. 0.1% in all but one anomalous experiment) after equilibration of racemic BN in the cholesteric phases at several temperatures (TablelV). The lack of change in the ratio of atropisomers in the cholesteric phases is consistent with our observation that liquid-crystal induced circular dichroism spectra (67) of ISN in cholesteric mixture D are due to a macroscopic property of the solvent the LCICD spectra disappear when mixture D is heated to an isotropic temperature. 

Fig. 4.6.4. The square grid pattern in a cholesteric liquid crystal induced by ( ) magnetic field and (b) an electric field. (Rondelez. >) ...

Matsui T, Ozaki M, Yoshino K (2004) Tunable photonic defect modes in a cholesteric liquid crystal induced by optical deformation of helix. Phys Rev E 69 061715 Yoshida H, Lee CH, Fujii A, Ozaki M (2007) Tunable chiral photonic defect modes in locally polymerized cholesteric liquid crystals. Mol Cryst Liq Cryst 477 255... 

Enantiopure thiahelicenes can transfer their molecular chirahty to the whole phase of an achiral liquid crystal phase thus acting as dopant systems. Coupling the analysis of CD spectra with the study of cholesteric meso-phases induced in nematic liquid crystals (LC), a model has been proposed for the transfer of chirality from thiahehcene (Al)-114 (Figure 13) to the whole liquid crystal phase (cholesteric induction) (1996JO2013). The dopant thiahehcene presents a twisted chiral surface, which is homochiral with the induced cholesterics as a consequence of the interaction of its... 

When a chiral substance is dissolved in a nematic liquid crystal, a cholesteric mesophase is obtained(8). The cholesteric structure is characterized by its handedness (P-or M-helix) and pitch. Equal amounts of enantiomeric solutes of equal optical purity induce helical structures with identical pitch and opposite handedness... 

Under certain conditions, cellulose derivatives possessing the characteristics of cholesteric liquid crystals present cholesteric helical structures dissolution and transition from the cholesteric to the nematic phase [98]. When shear is over, the system is relaxed over a determined time and intense, shifting to a transition state, where the energy of deformation is minimal and the orientation ordering is maintained, causing the appearance of band structures. When the external field is removed, the shear-induced anisotropy is affected by the inevitable relaxation of the macromolecular chains. Structural relaxation after removal of the external field depends on the shear history and relaxation mechanism [99,100]. Moreover, literature suggests a possible competition between the order induced by shear and thermodynamically, and also a correlation between the viscosity peak and the appearance of the anisotropic phase at low shear rates [ 101,102]. 

Liquid crystal induced circular dichroism (LCICD) examines the differential absorption of circularly polarized radiation by an achiral solute oriented in a cholesteric liquid crystal. The circular dichroism results from an induced Cotton effect in the achiral solute due to the macroscopic chirality of its ordering in the helical solvent matrix. The effect has been shown theoretically to arise... 

The mixing of nematogenic compounds with chiral solutes has been shown to lead to cholesteric phases without any chemical interactions.147 Milhaud and Michels describe the interactions of multilamellar vesicles formed from dilauryl-phosphotidylcholine (DLPC) with chiral polyene antibiotics amphotericin B (amB) and nystatin (Ny).148 Even at low concentrations of antibiotic (molar ratio of DLPC to antibiotic >130) twisted ribbons are seen to form just as the CD signals start to strengthen. The results support the concept that chiral solutes can induce chiral order in these lyotropic liquid crystalline systems and are consistent with the observations for thermotropic liquid crystal systems. Clearly the lipid membrane can be chirally influenced by the addition of appropriate solutes. 

Reinitzer discovered liquid crystallinity in 1888 the so-called fourth state of matter.4 Liquid crystalline molecules combine the properties of mobility of liquids and orientational order of crystals. This phenomenon results from the anisotropy in the molecules from which the liquid crystals are built. Different factors may govern this anisotropy, for example, the presence of polar and apolar parts in the molecule, the fact that it contains flexible and rigid parts, or often a combination of both. Liquid crystals may be thermotropic, being a state of matter in between the solid and the liquid phase, or they may be lyotropic, that is, ordering induced by the solvent. In the latter case the solvent usually solvates a certain part of the molecule while the other part of the molecule helps induce aggregation, leading to mesoscopic assemblies. The first thermotropic mesophase discovered was a chiral nematic or cholesteric phase (N )4 named after the fact that it was observed in a cholesterol derivative. In hindsight, one can conclude that this was not the simplest mesophase possible. In fact, this mesophase is chiral, since the molecules are ordered in... 

Another mechanism of chiral amplification that extends over an even larger scale has been reported by Huck et al. [119] The molecule 12-(9 H-thioxantbene-9 -yli-dene-12H-benzo[a]xanthene (Fig. 11.6), which has no chiral center, nevertheless exists, like the helicenes, in two chiral forms defined by their enantiomeric configurations. Consistent with the discussion in Section 11.2.3, a small net handedness (ca. 0.7 %) could be induced in racemic solutions of this molecule by use of ultraviolet CPL. However, introducing 20 wt% of this molecule, which contained a 1.5% chiral excess of one roto-enantiomer, into a nematic phase of liquid crystals produced macroscopic (100 pm) regions of a chiral cholesteric liquid crystal phase. The... 

As compared to the cholesteric LC, the lyotropic LC consists of two or more components that exhibit liquid-crystalline properties (dependent on concentration, temperature, and pressure). In the lyotropic phases, solvent molecules fill the space around the compounds (such as soaps) to provide fluidity to the system. In contrast to thermotropic liquid crystals, these lyotropics have another degree of freedom of concentration that enables them to induce a variety of different phases. A typical lyotropic liquid crystal is surfactant-water-long-chain alcohol. 

This review deals with LC polymers containing mesogenic groups in the side chains of macromolecules. Having no pretence to cover the abundant literature related to thermotropic LC polymers, it seemed reasonable to deal with the most important topics associated with synthesis of nematic, smectic and cholesteric liquid crystals, the peculiarities of their structure and properties, and to discuss structural-optical transformations induced in these systems by electric and magnetic fields. Some aspects of this topic are also discussed in the reviews by Rehage and Finkelmann 27), and Hardy 28). Here we shall pay relatively more attention to the results of Soviet researchers working in the field. 

Doping of nematic liquid crystal materials ZLI-389 and K15 with 30a resulted in stable cholesteric phases. The cholesteric phase was induced by the addition of 0.7 wt% 30a to ZLI-389 at 51-54 °C, and the phase was stable for many hours. When... 

Yokoyama et al. showed that the binaphthol derivatives of indolylfulgides 11 and 12 functioned as chiral dopants to generate cholesteric phases on addition to nematic liquid crystal 26. Photoirradiation induced dramatic changes in cholesteric... 

The change in chirality obtained by irradiation of 11 was sufficient to provoke the light-induced conversion of cholesteric to nematic phases in liquid crystals of 4/-(pentyloxy)-4-biphenylcarbonitrile doped with 1% w/w... 

Supramolecular architectures are highly sensitive to chiral perturbations in general, and in systems that form liquid crystals in particular. Small amounts of enantiopure guest molecule added to a nematic host can induce a transition to a cholesteric phase, and the helical organization in the mesoscopic system is very sensitive to the structure of the guest molecule. Chiral amplification was successfully achieved in such liquid crystals, using CPL as the chiral trigger for the phase transition [183]. 

Cholesteric liquid crystals are optically active nematic phases as a result of their gradual twist in orientational alignment. Therefore, cholesteric liquid-crystalline solvents are expected to induce enantioselectivity in chemical reactions see reference [713] for a review on photoasymmetric induction by chiral mesophases. The existing results are not very promising. So far, the maximum photoasymmetric induction reported has... 

Liquid crystalline solutions of KB LG (or of RBDG) and films prepared from such srdutions also ow significant CD in the wavelength range of the aromatic absorption bands 46,47) the CD for PBDG in methylene chloride is positive (46). CD bands are also induced when dye mdecules are introduced in liquid crystal films of polypeptide (PMDG). These induced CD bands are interpreted as arising from the dissymmetric field of the cholesteric structure 48). 

As a first step towards the measurement of single molecule effects, Schrader and Korte (1972) reported the measurement of the infrared rotatory dispersion of carvone in liquid crystalline solution. They used a modified commercial spectrometer. They observed a huge effect which is not the result of the carvone itself but of the liquid crystal in which a helical arrangement (cholesteric state) is induced by the chiral solute (Sec. 4.6.4). In this case the liquid crystal acts as a kind of molecular amplifier which allows the absolute configuration of tiny amounts of solutes to be determined reliably. At about the same time Dudley et al., (1972) measured the infrared circular dichroism of (-)-menthol in a liquid crystal. Their equipment consisted of a normal infrared spectrometer supplemented by a Fresnel rhomb made from sodium chloride. 

The sterically overcrowded stilbene derivatives were also useful dopants which caused photoinduced transition between induced cholesteric and nematic phases of liquid crystals [45, 46]. By alternate irradiation with light of different wavelengths, or left or right circularly polarized light, the phase transitions were successfully induced. 

A similar thermally-induced inversion of the cholesteric sense was observed for the PBLG liquid crystal in benzyl alcohol. In this solution, a gel-like opaque phase coexists with the cholesteric phase at lower temperatures. The opaque phase disappears around 70 °C, where endothermic peaks are observed in the differential scanning calorimetry curve. The value of S below 70 °C remains constant, and then changes with temperature above 70 °C. The compensation occurs at about 103 °C, and the transition from biphasic phase to the isotropic phase is observed above 150 °C in this case. The results are summarized in Fig. 12, where the reciprocal of the half-pitch is plotted against temperature. The sign of 1/S is taken as positive when the cholesteric sense is the right-handed. 

It is also known that in side-chain LC polymers the copolymerization of optically active monomers with mesogenic monomers, in the same manner as the mixing of optically active compounds with nematic low molecular weight compounds, can induce the formation of a cholesteric mesophase. Therefore, it is expected that inclusion of chiral spacers in main chain liquid crystal polymers, which would be nematic... 

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