Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Thermotropic Liquid-Crystalline And Light-Emitting Properties Of Bis(4-Aalkoxyphenyl) Viologen Bis(Triflimide) Salts, Pradip K. Bhowmik, Muhammed Kareem M. Al-Karawi, Shane T. Killarney, Erenz J. Dizon, Anthony Chang, Jongin Kim, Si L. Chen, Ronald Carlo G. Principe, Andy Ho, Haesook Han

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Research

A series of bis(4-alkoxyphenyl) viologen bis(triflimide) salts with alkoxy chains of different lengths were synthesized by the metathesis reaction of respective bis(4-alkoxyphenyl) viologen dichloride salts, which were in turn prepared from the reaction of Zincke salt with the corresponding 4-n-alkoxyanilines, with lithium triflimide in methanol. Their chemical structures were characterized by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra and elemental analysis. Their thermotropic liquid-crystalline (LC) properties were examined by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy, and variable temperature X-ray diffraction. Salts with short length alkoxy chains had crystal-to-liquid transitions. Salts of intermediate length alkoxy chains showed both crystal-to-smectic A (SmA) …