Biaxial nematic phase of crank-like bis(β-diketonato)copper(II) complexes established by X-ray diffraction and Z-value calculations

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have synthesized a series of six novel bis(β-diketonate)copper (II) complexes, 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b, substituted by two bulky substituents in the short molecular axis direction to investigate their mesomorphism. The m,p,m'-trimethoxylphenyl-substituted derivatives, 2a and 2b, and the m,p-dimethoxylphenyl-substituted derivatives, 3a and 3b, did not show mesomorphism, whereas each of the p-methoxyphenyl-substituted derivatives 1a and 1b only showed a nematic phase, which was revealed from polarizing microscopic observations. We established from X-ray diffraction and Z-value calculations that each of the crank-like derivatives 1a and 1b forms a rectangular parallelepiped dimer and shows a biaxial nematic phase.