Ionic Liquid Crystals Based on Mesitylene-Containing Bis- and Trisimidazolium Salts

Montserrat Trilla (1) , Roser Pleixats (1) , Teodor Parella (2) , Christophe Blanc (3) , Philippe Dieudonné (3) , Yannick Guari (4) , Michel Wong Chi Man (5)

1 Department of Chemistry and NMR Service
2 NMR Service
3 LCVN - Laboratoire des colloïdes, verres et nanomatériaux
4 CMOS - Chimie moléculaire et organisation du solide
5 ICGM ICMMM - Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier - Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux de Montpellier

The synthesis of novel ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) based on bis- and trisimidazolium salts (I-, BF4-, and [N(SO2CF3)2]-) bearing hydrophobic hexadecyl chains and a bridging mesitylene moiety is reported. The study of their mesomorphic properties is presented, including the characterization of the Smectic A phase by differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy. A detailed powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD) study as a function of temperature confirmed that cooling gives rise to a glass transition from the liquid-crystalline smectic A phase to a metastable lamellar phase. In addition, in the case of bisimidazolium iodide, the ability of these molecules to form self-aggregates in solution has been demonstrated by diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Domaines: Matériaux

Montserrat Trilla, Roser Pleixats, Teodor Parella, Christophe Blanc, Philippe Dieudonné, et al.. Ionic Liquid Crystals Based on Mesitylene-Containing Bis- and Trisimidazolium Salts. Langmuir, 2008, 24 (1), pp.259-265. ⟨10.1021/la702305t⟩. ⟨hal-00319583⟩