Hexa‐peri‐hexabenzocoronene derivatives show a record high negative volumetric thermal expansion coefficient within the crystalline phase. Responsible for the negative thermal expansion is the increase of the tilt angle and the improved packing of the discotic cores with temperature and this has implications in the design of organic electronic devices as well as in advanced nanocomposites with controlled thermal properties.
The effect of dipole substitution on the self-assembly, thermodynamics, and dynamics has been studied in a series of hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronenes (HBCs). The HBCs bear the same number and type of aliphatic chains, but different dipoles directly attached to the cores ranging from ∼0 to ∼3.4 D. Dipole substitution alters the energetics and reduces the transition temperature favoring the columnar hexagonal liquid crystalline phase at the expense of the crystalline phase. The equation of state was obtained by independent pressure-volume-temperature measurements in both phases that resulted in the equilibrium phase diagram. According to the latter, increasing pressure imparts stability to the crystalline phase. The molecular and supramolecular dynamics investigated, respectively, by dielectric spectroscopy and rheology, identified a hierarchy of motions comprising a fast axial motion, a slower process that completely relaxes the dipole moment, and an even slower soliton-like relaxation of structural defects.
The distinctly different unit cells, dipolar dynamics and viscoelastic properties of the two columnar phases in a dipole-functionalized discotic liquid crystal (mono-iodine hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene) were employed as fingerprints and allowed investigating the kinetic pathways towards formation of the crystalline phase. X-Ray scattering, dielectric spectroscopy and rheology revealed a nucleation and growth process. The transformation involved coexisting unit cells composed from columns with either tilted or non-tilted disks and the absence of intermediate states. The transition can be described as a transformation from a structurally weakly ordered but dipolar well-ordered liquid crystalline phase to a structurally well-ordered but dipolar disordered crystalline phase.
The dynamics of the herringbone structure formation have been studied in a monobromo hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene derivative by infrared spectroscopy and complementary techniques. Selective probing of the vibration modes corresponding to the aromatic core and the alkyl chains, allowed investigation of their role in the phase transformation dynamics over an extraordinarily broad time-window (1-10(5) s). Identical kinetics were found suggesting that both the core and the alkyl chains simultaneously drive the system from the undercooled liquid crystalline to the crystalline phase with the herringbone structure.
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