Polar and apolar columnar phases made of bent-core mesogens

Top Curr Chem. 2012:318:281-302. doi: 10.1007/128_2011_231.

Abstract

Structural studies of two-dimensionally ordered phases made of bent-core mesogens are presented, with the emphasis on the X-ray studies of the columnar phases built of smectic layer fragments. We present the evidence for two types of packing of layer fragments: the B1-type structures where the layers are broken into blocks arranged into the orthogonal body centered lattice and the B1rev-type structures made of slightly deformed layers, where the primitive crystallographic unit cell is in general oblique. In some cases two-dimensional structures made of bilayers are observed. Bilayers are characteristic for the general tilt phases, which possess a longitudinal polarization component, in the direction perpendicular to the smectic layer fragment. We also outline the theoretical model predicting and describing the observed structures and present a model which enables the calculation of the electron density maps from the X-ray diffraction data.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Computer Simulation
  • Crystallography / methods
  • Liquid Crystals / chemistry*
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Scattering, Small Angle
  • X-Ray Diffraction / methods*