title: Molecular Designs for Enhancement of Polarity in Ferroelectric Soft Materials.
abstract: The racemic oxovanadium(IV) salmmen complexes, [VO((rac)-(4-X-salmmen))] (X = C12C10C5 (1), C16 (2), and C18 (3); salmmen = N,N'-monomethylenebis-salicylideneimine) with "banana shaped" molecular structures were synthesized, and their ferroelectric properties were investigated. These complexes exhibit well-defined hysteresis loops in their viscous phases, moreover, 1 also displays liquid crystal behaviour. We observed a synergetic effect influenced by three structural aspects; the methyl substituents on the ethylene backbone, the banana shaped structure and the square pyramidal metal cores all play an important role in generating the observed ferroelectricity, pointing the way to a useful strategy for the creation of advanced ferroelectric soft materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ohtani
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohmagari
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Polymer Science, Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University, Ueda 386-8567, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuchika
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Leonard F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Lindoy
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.|Institute of Pulsed Power Science (IPPS), Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayami