Self-assembled columns of fullerene

Bushby, R.J., Hamley, I.W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4549-0926, Liu, Q., Lozman, O.R. and Lydon, J.E. (2005) Self-assembled columns of fullerene. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 15 (41). pp. 4429-4434. ISSN 0959-9428 doi: 10.1039/b509492e

Abstract/Summary

Columnar mesophases based on alternating triphenylene and hexaphenyltriphenylene moieties are exceptionally stable and able to accommodate bulky side-chain substituents within the alkyl chain continuum between the columns. This paper presents a system in which the triphenylene bears a fullerene on its side-chain and the hexaphenyltriphenylene equivalent is the aza-derivative hexakis(4-nonylphenyl)dipyrazino[2,3-f : 2'3'-h] quinoxalene, PDQ9. The mesophase formed was identified as hexagonal columnar (Col(h)) by X-ray diffraction (a = 25.2 angstrom and c = 3.5 angstrom) but, in addition to the expected peaks, there is indication of a two-dimensional hexagonal superlattice with d-spacing 59 angstrom. This superlattice is believed to arise from ordering of the fullerenes within the liquid crystal matrix. It can be explained on the assumption that, to maximise fullerene-fullerene contact, the fullerenes form chains which wrap around the central column in every group of seven columns of the triphenylene : PDQ9 Col(h) array.