John W. Goodby

Handbook of liquid crystals

This four-volume reference aims to provide information on the basic principles of both low- and high-molecular weight materials, as well as the synthesis, characterization, modification, and applications (such as in computer displays or as structural materials) of all types of liquid crystals. Volume 1, for example, deals with the basic physical and chemical principles of liquid crystals, including structure-property relationships, nomenclature, phase behaviour, characterization methods, and general synthesis and application strategies.

Smectic Liquid Crystals

The use of a certain class of liquid crystal materials that exhibit a smectic C phase allows the production of a bistable liquid crystal display element. Such bistable display elements promote the use of matrix addressing for liquid crystal based elements in a display.

Transmission and amplification of information and properties in nanostructured liquid crystals.

In recent years the design of chemical structures of liquid-crystalline materials has developed rapidly, and in many cases changed radically. Since Reinitzers days, liquid crystals have either been classed as rodlike or disclike, with combinations of the two leading to phasmidic liquid crystals. The discovery that materials with bent molecular structures exhibited whole new families of mesophases inspired investigations into the liquid-crystal properties of materials with widely varying molecular topologies-from pyramids to crosses to dendritic molecules. As a result of conformational change, supermolecular materials can have deformable molecular structures, which can stabilize mesophase formation, and some materials that are non-mesogenic, on complexation form supramolecular liquid crystals. The formation of mesophases by individual molecular systems is a process of self-organization, whereas the mesophases of supramolecular systems are formed by self-assembly and self-organization. Herein we show 1) deformable molecular shapes and topologies of supermolecular and self-assembled supramolecular systems; 2) surface recognition processes of superstructures; and 3) that the transmission of those structures and their amplification can lead to unusual mesomorphic behavior where conventional continuum theory is not suitable for their description.

Physical properties of liquid crystals

Introduction and Historical Development. Guide to the Nomenclature and Classification of Liquid Crystals. Theory of the Liquid Crystalline State. Physical Properties.

Supermolecular liquid crystals

In this article we review recent work on the development and study of the properties of self-organising supermolecular and supramolecular materials, that are in size comparable to small proteins. We take the concept of the creation of dendritic liquid crystals, and apply it to the creation of new materials with single identifiable entities, so that they are monodisperse or are single compounds. We show how functionality can be in-built into such materials so that self-organising functional systems can be created.

Liquid Crystal Phases Exhibited by Some Monosaccharides

Abstract Recently some mono-alkylated derivatives of β-D-glucopyranoside and thio-α-D-mannopyranoside were shown to exhibit liquid crystal properties. The structure of the phase produced by these materials was described as being of a layered smectic type. However, a full classification of the phase was not given. The present investigation defines the phase as smectic A with a bilayer structuring. The lamellar spacings previously found for the phase agree with calculated values for a bilayer ordering in which the carbohydrate moieties overlap to produce an extensively hydrogen bonded structure. The phase was found to be immiscible with the A phases of conventional smectogens because the hydrogen bonding necessary for phase formation is disrupted in binary mixtures.

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals - Structure and Design

Abstract Interest in the synthesis of optically active smectic liquid crystals has increased considerably since the advent of a fast switching, bistable, electrooptic device configuration based on their ferroelectric properties. A number of structurally separate ferroelectric liquid crystal phases have been defined which possess differing properties. These types of phase can be utilized in different forms of application. The structures of the various ferroelectric smectic phases and the types of material which exhibit these modifications are discussed in detail. The design and engineering of materials to suit certain device criteria is related to the properties of the smectic ferroelectric phases. A relationship between the absolute spacial configuration of the optically active materials which exhibit ferroelectric smectic phases, the twist direction of the phase and the direction of the spontaneous polarization is developed.

A reliable method of alignment for smectic liquid crystals

An alignment method for smectic liquid crystals is described. Alignment is obtained by the deposition of a certain class of polymer on a substrate followed by unidirectional rubbing. Only linear polymers capable of being elongated in bulk samples are found to produce alignment. The quality of alignment is found to be exceptionally good and this method can be used to produce alignment over large areas.

Iron(III) salen-type catalysts for the cross-coupling of aryl Grignards with alkyl halides bearing β-hydrogens

Iron(III) salen and related complexes are active catalysts for the coupling, under mild and simple reaction conditions, of aryl Grignard reagents with primary and secondary alkyl halide substrates bearing beta-hydrogens.

Alignment of liquid crystals which exhibit cholesteric to smectic C* phase transitions

An alignment method for materials with cholesteric to smectic C* phase transitions is described. Ordering of the molecules, confined between glass plates which have been coated with a polymer and buffed, is achieved using an electric field. While the buffing direction defines the orientation of the long axis of the molecules, the electric field defines the direction of the layer tilt. In cells with only one buffed surface, polar surface interactions are thought to be responsible for producing monodomain specimens.