title: Diastereomeric liquid crystal domains at the mesoscale.
abstract: In many technologies used to achieve separation of enantiomers, chiral selectors are designed to display differential affinity for the two enantiomers of a chiral compound. Such complexes are diastereomeric, differing in structure and free energy for the two enantiomers and enabling chiral discrimination. Here we present evidence for strong diastereomeric interaction effects at the mesoscale, manifested in chiral liquid crystal guest materials confined in a chiral, nanoporous network of semi-crystalline helical nanofilaments. The nanoporous host is itself an assembly of achiral, bent-core liquid crystal molecules that phase-separate into a conglomerate of 100 micron-scale, helical nanofilament domains that differ in structure only in the handedness of their homogeneous chirality. With the inclusion of a homochiral guest liquid crystal, these enantiomeric domains become diastereomeric, exhibiting unexpected and markedly different mesoscale structures and orientation transitions producing optical effects in which chirality has a dominant role.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8904-9307
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6560-1913
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Tuchband
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
authors.forename: Balazs
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Horanyi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0215, USA.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Korblova
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0215, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Walba
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maclennan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA.
authors.forename: Noel A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Clark