A series of dodecyl 1-thio-β-D-glycosides has been synthesized and characterized (DSC, NMR, CP MAS, X-ray diffraction) as possible new marking materials with liquid-crystalline properties. These compounds undergo solid to liquid crystal phase transitions at various temperatures, which depend on the nature of the carbohydrate part of the structure. Their liquid-crystalline phases show extreme shear thinning behaviour.Key words: liquid crystal, powder X-ray diffraction, phase transition, thioglycoside, solid-state NMR, marking material
Six S,S-dialkyl acetals 2a-f of inosose (1), tripodal in structure, have been synthesized, characterized and investigated by optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (d.s.c.). The four S,S-acetals 2c-f with sufficiently long alkyl chains are thermotropic liquid crystalline; 2 e and 2 f are even dithermomesomorphic. Each of these four inosose derivatives 2c-f exhibits monotropically a most likely cubic mesophase (MI); in addition 2e and 2f show enantiotropically a hexagonal mesophase (Hx) with a non-covalent, supramolecular H-bridge architecture. Whereas the nature of the optically isotropic mesophase MI needs further clarification the stable high temperature mesophase Hx of 2 e and 2 f has been established by a miscibility test using a sugar S,S-dialkyl acetal also tripodal in structure and with a Hx phase proved by X-ray diffraction, but in contrast to 2 with an acyclic hydrophilic part. Similarities of structural features between the Hx-phases of 2e and 2f as well as of other thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystal systems are discussed briefly.
Local layer structures and their formation process in a half-V-shaped switching ferroelectric liquid crystal (HV-FLC) were investigated by means of synchrotron X-ray microdiffraction. The HV-FLC is a FLC that has a cholesteric–chiral smectic C (Ch–SmC*) phase transition sequences. X-ray microdiffraction measurements revealed that the SmC* phase in the HV-FLC was composed of asymmetric chevron and inclined-bookshelf structures. In addition, temperature-controlled X-ray diffraction measurements showed that the transient layer structures appeared during the Ch to SmC* phase transition.
Kinetics of the barotropic ripple (P beta')/lamellar liquid crystal (L alpha) phase transition in fully hydrated dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) monitored by time-resolved x-ray diffraction