title: Fast and slow dynamics in a discotic liquid crystal with regions of columnar order and disorder.
abstract: Aromatic disk-shaped molecules tend to self-organize into a herringbone packing where the disks are inclined at angles ±θ with respect to the axis of the column. In discotic liquid crystals this can introduce defects between stacks of limited length. In a C(3)-symmetric hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene, solid-state NMR, x-ray scattering, and rheology identifies such a packing with θ=43° and stacks of about seven disks. Disordered regions containing defects fill the space in between the ordered stacks. Biaxial intra- and intercolumnar dynamics differing by eight decades are identified.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung, D-55021 Mainz, Germany. mrh@mpip-mainz.mpg.de
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Macho
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Müllen
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Spiess
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Floudas
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D003198:Computer Simulation; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D012031:Refractometry