Discotic liquid crystals of transition metal complexes 57: X-ray diffraction halo jumps originated from sudden free rotation of substituent groups to induce mesomorphism

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We have synthesized a novel series of four flying-seed-like liquid crystals (1Ph-PhO)4PcM [5-M: M = Co (5-Co), Ni (5-Ni), Cu (5-Cu) and Zn (5-Zn)] which are based on a phthalocyanine core having peripheral bulky groups without long alkyl chains, in order to clarify the precise mechanism inducing their mesomorphism. For comparison, we have also synthesized a long alkyl-chain-substituted liquid crystal ([Formula: see text]C[Formula: see text]OPhO)8PcCu (7o) having the same phthalocyanine core with long alkyl chains in the periphery. Each of the derivatives 5-M and 7o showed a hexagonal ordered columnar (Colho) mesophase. Very interestingly, the halo positions in the X-ray diffraction patterns for the Colho mesophases of the flying-seed-like liquid crystals 5-M and the long alkyl-chain-substituted liquid crystal 7o were quite differently given at 5.7–6.2 Å and 4.6–4.7 Å, respectively. The halo positions of the representative derivatives 5-Cu and 7o having the same copper phthalocyanine (PcCu) core were finely measured at various temperatures by using the temperature-variable small angle X-ray diffraction technique. As the result, the derivatives 5-Cu and 7o showed sudden jumps of halo position from 5.5 to 5.7 Å and from 4.2 to 4.6 Å, respectively, at the phase transition from the crystalline phase to the liquid crystalline phase (Colho). This means that the volume changes ([Formula: see text]V) corresponding to these halo jumps originate from two different kinds of mechanisms by sudden free rotation of the bulky substituents and by sudden melting of the long alkyl chains. Thus, in this work we have unambiguously clarified these two different mechanisms inducing mesomorphism.