DNA-involved thermotropic liquid crystals from catanionic vesicles

Abstract

Thermotropic liquid crystals (TLCs) have created unpredictable applications ranging from sensor to electronic devices. DNA can interact with positively charged cationic and anionic (catanionic) vesicles by electrostatic interaction to form DNA-based TLCs. In the present work, the polarizing optical microscopy (POM) images clearly demonstrate the formation of DNA-involved liquid crystals, we explore the general role of DNA-involved TLC formation and the regulating factors of properties of DNA-based TLCs. We verify the effect of the chain lengths of surfactants and DNA on the formation and properties of TLCs. We found that DNA-involved TLCs constructed by the different surfactants with same chain length present the excellent properties. The position of functional group of ferrocenyl surfactants greatly affects the formation of TLCs. The bulky group closing to the headgroup of surfactant and the strong electrostatic interaction between positively charged catanionic vesicles and DNA affect the formation of TLCs. Furthermore, we found that the shorter DNA strand length, the more consistent fit better with the vesicles to enhance the thermal stability of DNA-based TLCs. The influence factors of the formation of DNA-based TLCs were explored and the importance of interactions to the architecture of DNA-based TLCs also was underscored. Our results may direct the design and synthesis of functional DNA-based TLCs and lay the foundation of applications in the field of electrochemistry and flexible electronic devices.