Liquid‐crystal materials exhibiting up to three nematic phases are reported. Dielectric response measurements show that while the lower temperature nematic phase has ferroelectric order and the highest temperature nematic phase is apolar, the intermediate phase has local antiferroelectric order. The modification of the molecular structure by increasing the number of lateral fluorine substituents leads to one of the materials showing a direct isotropic‐ferronematic phase transition.
Circadian clocks regulate multiple rhythms in mammalian tissues. In most organs core clock gene expression is oscillatory, with negative components Per and Cry peaking in antiphase to Bmal1. A notable exception is the testis, where clock genes seem nonrhythmic. Earlier mammalian studies, however, did not examine clock expression patterns in accessory ductal tissue required for sperm maturation and transport. Previous studies in insects demonstrated control of sperm maturation in vas deferens by a local circadian system. Sperm ducts express clock genes and display circadian pH changes controlled by vacuolar-type H(+)-ATPase and carbonic anhydrase (CA-II). It is unknown whether sperm-processing rhythms are conserved beyond insects. To address this question in mice housed in a light-dark environment, we examined temporal patterns of mPer1 and Bmal1 gene expression and protein abundance in epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicles, and prostate. Results demonstrate variable tissue-specific patterns of expression of the two genes, with variations in levels of clock proteins and their nucleo-cytoplasmic cycling observed among examined tissues. Strikingly, mPer1 and Bmal1 mRNA and proteins oscillate in antiphase in the prostate, with similar peak-trough patterns as observed in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, the brain's central clock. Genes encoding CA and a V-ATPase subunit, which are rhythmically expressed in sperm ducts of moths, are also rhythmic in some segments of murine sperm ducts. Our data suggest that some sperm duct segments may contain peripheral circadian systems whereas others may express clock genes in a pleiotropic manner.
A selection of pyrene‐based liquid crystal dimers have been prepared, containing either methylene‐ether or diether linked spacers of varying length and parity. All the diether linked materials, CBOnO.Py (n=5, 6, 11, 12), exhibit conventional nematic and smectic A phases, with the exception of CBO11O.Py which is exclusively nematic. The methylene‐ether linked dimer, CBnO.Py, with an even‐membered spacer (n=5) was solely nematogenic, but odd‐members (n=6, 8, 10) exhibited both nematic and twist‐bend nematic phases. Replacement of the cyanobiphenyl fragment by cyanoterphenyl giving CT6O.Py, gave elevated melting and nematic‐isotropic transition temperatures, and SmA and SmCA phases were observed on cooling the nematic phase. Intermolecular face‐to‐face associations of the pyrene moieties drive glass formation, and all these materials have a glass transition temperature at or above room temperature. The stability of the glassy twist‐bend nematic phase allowed for its study using AFM, and the helical pitch length, PTB, was measured as 6.3 and 6.7 nm for CB6O.Py and CB8O.Py, respectively. These values are comparable to the shortest pitch of a twist‐bend nematic phase measured to date.
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