title: A Liquid Crystalline Oligomer Exhibiting Nematic and Twist-Bend Nematic Mesophases.
abstract: The twist-bend nematic phase (NTB ) has been described as the structural link between the untilted uniaxial nematic phase (N) and the helical chiral nematic phase (N*). The NTB phase exhibits phenomena of fundamental importance to science, that is, 1) the spontaneous formation of a helical pitch on the nanometer scale in a fluid and 2) the spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry, leading to the emergence of chiral domains in an achiral system. In this Communication, we present a study on T49 [bis(4-(9-(4-((4-cyanobenzoyl)oxy)phenyl)nonyl)phenyl) 4,4'-(nonane-1,9-diyl)dibenzoate], a liquid-crystalline oligomer exhibiting the twist-bend nematic phase, which has a molecular length that is of comparable dimensions to the sub-10 nm pitch determined for CB9CB, and provide new insights into the differentiation between the nano- and macro-science for self-assembling supermolecular systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom. richard.mandle@york.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9816-9661
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Mandle
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Goodby
keywords: SAXS; density functional calculations; liquid crystals; oligomers; supermolecular chemistry