Development of π-Conjugated Liquid Crystals with 3D Organized Sturctures

Abstract

We have synthesized π-conjugated wedge-shaped molecules based on 5,5'-diphenyl-2,2'-bithiophene containing a tri(decyloxy)benzoate moiety and the fluorosubstituted analogues. Some of compounds exhibit bicontinuous cubic liquid-crystalline (LC) phases with an Ia3d symmetry. Time-of-flight photoconductivity measurements reveal that these LC compounds show ambipolar charge carrier mobilities on the order of 10^-5 cm² V^-1 s^-1.