Polycatenar mesogenic molecule

Fig. 16 2D-cartoons of quasi-spherical nanoparticles protected with mesogenic or pro-mesogenic capping agents giving rise to liquid crystalline quasi-spherical nanoparticles. The three major approaches include the decoration with calamitic molecules in an end-on fashion (7), with dendrons featuring calamitic or polycatenar moieties at the termini (8), and with laterally substituted calamitic molecules in a side-on fashion (9). The concept shown for the quasi-spherical nanoparticle 7 was also successfully used for spindle-like nanoparticles [533, 534]... 

Even if they are not, strictly speaking, polycatenar molecules, double swallow-tailed compounds with long branches can be considered as a special case of tetracatenar mesogens, where the branches are not directly attached to the terminal rings [57], as shown in Fig. 10. 

The simultaneous occurrence of nematic, cubic, layer and columnar structures in pure mesogens is of great importance to bridging the gap between calamitic and discotic molecules and the corresponding mesophases. Smectic, cubic and columnar phases have also been described in polycatenar compounds, and thus double-swallow-tailed mesogens can also be considered to be a special case of tetracatenar compounds (see Chap. XII of this volume). 

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