02/02/2024 11:29 Hydrogen-bonded liquid crystal complexes: A comprehensive study of structure, behaviour and potential applications - Scienc…

Journal of Molecular Liquids

Volume 395, 1 February 2024, 123838

Hydrogen-bonded liquid crystal complexes: A comprehensive study of

structure, behaviour and potential applications
Bassem Meddeb a, Manel Ben Salah a, Salim Zghal b, Naoufel Ben Hamadi c, Ahlem Guesmi c, Youssef Arfaoui d, Souhaila Hbaieb d, Taoufik Soltani a

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2023.123838
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Abstract

Intermolecular hydrogen bond (HB) interaction becomes an intensively studied topic in supramolecular chemistry and soft matter science. Herein, a
new series of hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals (HBLCs) composed of 3-flurobenzoic acid derivatives (nOBAF) and 1,4-diazabicyclo [2.2.2] octane
(DABCO) has been prepared and characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The thermal behavior was determined by differential
scanning calorimetry and observed by polarized optical microscopy. All complexes were found to exhibit smectic G (SmG) and smectic B (SmB)
phases over a wide temperature range. Furthermore, it was found that the thermal stability of these mesophases increases with increasing the alkoxy
chain length. The complex dielectric permittivity was reported as a function of frequency in the range 1 Hz–10 MHz. Lower frequency process
attributed to the collective fluctuations of azimuthal angle and higher frequencies, associated to the soft mode were observed in SmB. In the SmG,
additional to the soft mode (106 Hz) a higher frequency mode (105 Hz) was detected for the first time. The experimental results obtained for these
complexes were correlated with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Furthermore, these results suggest that nOBAF/DABCO has the potential
to be switchable dielectric materials.

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Introduction

Banana-shaped liquid crystals, also known as Bent-Core Liquid Crystals (BCLCs), have attracted considerable attention due to their special nonlinear
optical, electro-optical, and dielectric properties. These properties are advantageous for versatile and large-scale applications such as optoelectronics
[1], [2], solar energy [3], and biotechnological [4]. Bent-core liquid crystals are composed of molecules containing two mesogenic units controlled by a
flexible alkyl spacer, which maintains a certain degree of material compliance and enhances the mesomorphism [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12],
[13]. Recently, there have been several reports on the design of molecules with different shapes that enable rich mesomorphism and diverse
properties, including the smectic B [14], [15], [16], smectic G [16] and the Nematic Twist-Bend (NTB) phase with heliconical molecular aggregation
[12], [13], which is different from the conventional cholesteric phase. It has been found that the molecular structure has a direct effect on the
mesomorphic properties [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28]. Alhaddad et al have demonstrated that the chloro lateral
substituent stabilizes the nematic phase, while the methyl substituent in homologue complexes provides the smectic phase [19]. In addition, Walker
et al. have compared the bent angle (χ) of three-typed twist-bend nematogens based on a Selenium CBSenSeCB, ether CBOnOCB, and thioether
CBSnSCB linked [21]. They have noted that the first one has a more bent molecular curvature with χ = 97°, which is a candidate for twist-bend nematic
near room temperature.

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