Pretransitional layer contraction at the chiral smectic A-to-chiral smectic C phase transition of a chiral nitroxide radical

Yoshiaki Uchida; Katsuaki Suzuki; Rui Tamura; Yoshio Aoki; Hiroyuki Nohira

doi:10.1021/jp400325q

Pretransitional layer contraction at the chiral smectic A-to-chiral smectic C phase transition of a chiral nitroxide radical

J Phys Chem B. 2013 Mar 14;117(10):3054-60. doi: 10.1021/jp400325q. Epub 2013 Mar 4.

Authors

Yoshiaki Uchida¹, Katsuaki Suzuki, Rui Tamura, Yoshio Aoki, Hiroyuki Nohira

Affiliation

¹ Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan. yuchida@cheng.es.osaka-u.ac.jp

PMID: 23421451
DOI: 10.1021/jp400325q

Abstract

We have designed and synthesized a new chiral paramagnetic liquid crystalline compound with a nitroxide radical moiety showing chiral smectic A (SmA*) and C (SmC*) phases. This compound shows pretransitional layer contraction prior to the SmA*-to-SmC* phase transition in the cooling run. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and polarized optical microscopy reveal that a temperature-dependent conformational change is responsible for the pretransitional layer contraction.