129Xe NMR analysis of continuous nano-porosity in a columnar liquid crystal of macrocycles

Abstract

Nanopore materials with fluidity show promise for novel chemical events such as the accommodation, unique arraying, and chemical reactions of guest molecules, which could potentially lead to new insights and developments in this field. It appears that columnar liquid crystals composed of shape-persistent macrocycles may form nanochannels due to the intrinsic nanospace in the column. However, the existence of substantial nanoporosity has not been investigated experimentally. In this study, we confirmed the presence of discrete and spatiotemporally continuous voids in a liquid-crystalline material using 129Xe NMR spectroscopy.