Scalable Synthesis of Cholesteric Glassy Liquid Crystals

Abstract

Capable of nonabsorbing circular polarization of unpolarized incident light, cholesteric glassy liquid crystals consisting of hybrid chiral-nematic pendants to volume-excluding cores are potentially useful for the fabrication of various robust optical devices. As illustrated in this study, the well-oriented glassy film of enantiomeric Bz3ChN, with a glass transition at 73 °C and a cholesteric-to-isotropic transition at 295 °C, exhibits a selective reflection band centered at approximately 410 nm, an exceptional set of properties well suited for optical device exploration. To enable sustainable large-scale synthesis of this material class for widespread applications, a productive strategy has been established, requiring a mere three-step scheme with an overall yield, atom economy, and reaction mass efficiency at 34%, 33%, and 12%, respectively. While amenable to improvement, the resulting green chemistry metrics are encouraging as the first attempt.