Soft Elasticity in Main Chain Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Dey, Sonal; Agra-Kooijman, Deña Mae; Ren, Wanting; McMullan, Philip J.; Griffin, Anselm C.; Kumar, Satyendra

doi:10.3390/cryst3020363

Cited by 56 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…With respect to conventional liquid crystals, the elastic moduli of SUP–surfactant liquid crystals are larger than for reported smectic liquid crystals (see Table S1, Supporting Information) . We found that the elastic values are comparable to those of liquid‐crystal elastomers, where the mesogens again have to be crosslinked by polymerization to achieve elastic behavior . Due to the modular assembly of the SUP surfactant complexes their mechanical properties can be easily tuned by varying the lengths of the alkyl chains of the surfactants or the molecular weight of the supercharged polypeptide backbone (Figure c,e).…”

Section: Summary Of the Mesomorphisms Of Gfp–sups (Gfp–e9 Gfp–e18 Gmentioning

confidence: 73%

Solvent‐Free Liquid Crystals and Liquids Based on Genetically Engineered Supercharged Polypeptides with High Elasticity

Liu

Pesce

et al. 2015

Advanced Materials

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or traditional organic liquid crystals. Therefore, the development of a general strategy for fabricating solvent-free ELP fl uids (liquid crystals and liquids) is an attractive goal.Genetic engineering as a recombinant protein synthesis technology affords a powerful tool for the synthesis of ELPs with predictable properties and biofunctionality. Engineered ELPs allow fabrication of desired sequences with high molecular weights combined with monodispersity, well-defi ned structures and chain lengths that are impossible to be achieved by chemical synthesis. [31][32][33] We demonstrate here the creation of genetically engineered ELPs based on the common pentameric repeat sequence (VPG X G) n found in tropoelastin by taking advantage of the fl exibility of the amino acid composition at the fourth position of that peptide motif. First, glutamic acid was introduced at this site of the repeat to transform the ELPs into supercharged polypeptides (SUPs, (VPG E G) n ). Then, green fl uorescent protein (GFP) was fused to the SUP for an additional level of functionality. Thus, a series of GFP-SUPs (GFP-(VPG E G) n ) with negative charges ranging from 9, over 18, 36, 72 to 144 (GFP-E9, GFP-E18, GFP-E36, GFP-E72, and GFP-E144) were expressed in E. coli (details in Figure S1-S3, Supporting Information). The purity and molecular weights of the products were confi rmed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-fl ight mass spectrometry, respectively ( Figure S4 and S5, Supporting Information). Subsequently, the GFP-SUPs were complexed with cationic surfactants. This was inspired by previous work dealing with polyelectrolyte-surfactant complexation via electrostatic interactions. [34][35][36][37][38] In the context of proteins, complexation between cationized ferritin and anionic polymer surfactants yielded mesophases with a narrow temperature range. [ 37 ] Here we propose that the combination of negatively charged GFP-SUP with positively charged surfactants, followed by dehydration, can act as a simple generic scheme for producing solventfree GFP-SUP fl uids. In the present experiments, electrostatic interactions as the driving force couple these GFP-SUPs and surfactants into hybrid lamellar assemblies ( Figure 1 ), where the fl exible alkyl chains of surfactants suppress crystallization. [ 34,35 ] The anhydrous SUP-surfactant complexes exhibit non-Newtonian (smectic liquid crystal) and Newtonian (isotropic liquid) fl uid behaviors. The lengths of the SUP and surfactant are found to be extremely important in tuning the physical properties of the fl uids. We fi nd a high elasticity in the SUP mesophases when they are ordered in smectic layers. The elastic moduli of these phases are larger than the ones reported Biologically inspired peptide-based materials are of increasing interest for applications where biological function and structure are used outside of the natural context. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Among them, a specifi c class of repetitive polypeptides termed elasti...

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Section: Summary Of the Mesomorphisms Of Gfp–sups (Gfp–e9 Gfp–e18 Gmentioning

confidence: 73%

Solvent‐Free Liquid Crystals and Liquids Based on Genetically Engineered Supercharged Polypeptides with High Elasticity

Liu

Pesce

et al. 2015

Advanced Materials

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“…The analysis of similar or related structures is discussed in literature, e.g. in [31,32], respectively. The assigned arrangement of the mesogens in lamellae is illustrated in Fig.…”

Section: Orientation Evaluated By 2d-saxs/waxsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The orientation-enhancing effect of diphenyl aluminium phosphate nanorods in a liquid-crystalline epoxy matrix ordered by magnetic field

Mossety‐Leszczak

Strachota

Steinhart

et al. 2015

European Polymer Journal

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“…The differences in these classes of polymers were recently reviewed in detail with regards to properties of mechanical actuators . Also, these liquid crystal elastomers have been the subject of several reviews and books . Furthermore, it should be noted that liquid crystal elastomers are often divided into subclasses by the location of the mesogen within the polymer network, either main‐chain or side‐chain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid crystal elastomer actuators: Synthesis, alignment, and applications

Kularatne

Kim

Boothby

et al. 2017

J Polym Sci B Polym Phys

274

232

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Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are a unique class of materials which combine rubber elasticity with the orientational order of liquid crystals. This combination can lead to materials with unique properties such as thermal actuation, anisotropic swelling, and soft elasticity. As such, LCEs are a promising class of materials for applications requiring stimulus response. These unique features and the recent developments of the LCE chemistry and processing will be discussed in this review. First, we emphasize several different synthetic pathways in conjunction with the alignment techniques utilized to obtain monodomain LCEs. We then identify the synthesis and alignment techniques used to synthesis LCE-based composites. Finally, we discuss how these materials are used as actuators and sensors.

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Soft Elasticity in Main Chain Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Cited by 56 publications

References 80 publications

Solvent‐Free Liquid Crystals and Liquids Based on Genetically Engineered Supercharged Polypeptides with High Elasticity

Solvent‐Free Liquid Crystals and Liquids Based on Genetically Engineered Supercharged Polypeptides with High Elasticity

The orientation-enhancing effect of diphenyl aluminium phosphate nanorods in a liquid-crystalline epoxy matrix ordered by magnetic field

Liquid crystal elastomer actuators: Synthesis, alignment, and applications

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