The effect of branched alkyl tail on the formation of the cubic phase of BABH-n

Abstract

Understanding of the formation and aggregation structure of thermotropic cubic phases, especially with bicontinuous types (Cub_bi), is still far from complete. We have been investigating the Cub_bi phases of 1,2-bis(4'-n-alkoxybenzoyl)hydrazines, denoted BABH-n. The compounds have alkyl tails at both ends, which are linear. This time, we replaced the alkyl tails with branched types, in some cases also introducing chirality in the molecule, to find out what effects they have on the Cub_bi phase formation. The phase transitions and aggregation structures were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy, and X-ray diffractometry etc.