Structural Chirality vs Molecular Chirality
Principal investigator
Scientists of various disciplines have always been fascinated by chirality. One of the most recent examples of spontaneous chirality is the twist-bend nematic phase (NTB). Formation of degenerate helices does not require molecular chirality, instead, it is facilitated by the shape of bent molecules The structure-property relation of achiral materials exhibiting the NTB phase, has been intensively studied but investigation of chiral materials is scarce. The chiral liquid crystal (LC) structures were mainly achieved by connecting cholesterol mesogenic unit or incorporating a methyl group which limits the structural diversity which and destabilizes mesophase, respectively. The proposed project addresses two issues: the structure of chiral LC material which does not include branching and the effect of chiral carbon on chiral self-assembly. Within this project, we propose development and investigation of a novel class of chiral dimers with the semi-flexible chiral moiety positioned in the spacer or within the mesogenic unit. The proposed work combines experimental, computational and spectroscopic techniques ranging from organic synthesis, investigation of mesogenic properties by standard techniques, AFM imaging to computational methods and circular dichroism spectroscopy.The results of this project will provide novel chiral material which structure can be modified progressively, a better understanding of the structure-property relation of chiral bent-shaped dimers and provide new insight into amplification of molecular chirality in liquid crystals. The results of this study will expand the number of such materials available for both, the fundamental purposes, and for materials targeted towards technological applications. Working on the project, the young researchers will have the opportunity to gain new knowledge that is not covered by their graduate education and contribute to the further development of organic material chemistry in Croatia.