The design and synthesis of chromonic mesogens for the generation of anisotropic materials via self-organization

A series of chiral and achiral chromonic mesogens, varying in the size of the aromatic cores and the structure of hydrophilic side arms, were designed and synthesized. The aggregation and chromonic liquid-crystalline properties of these mesogens were studied by UV-vis spectroscopy and polarized light microscopy. Bulk molecular order of the mesogens in solid phase was studied by first preparing liquid-crystalline samples in aqueous solvent then transferring the orientational order to the solid phase mechanically (by shearing a liquid-crystalline sample across a glass substrate), or non-mechanically (by template-guided self-organization). The sheared films and micropatterned materials were studied by polarized light microscopy, polarized UV-vis spectroscopy, and/or FT-IR spectroscopy and showed anisotropic optical properties in absorbance.