Discotic liquid crystals of transition metal complexes 58 : Novel phthalocyanine-based mesogenic monomers and polymers exhibiting spontaneous homeotropic alignment and helical tetragonal columnar structure

Two synthetizations of a novel series of phthalocyanine-based discotic liquid crystals substituted by a polymerizable group, acryloyl group or a norbornene group: 2-(12-acryloyloxydodecyloxy)-3-methoxy-9,10,16,17,23,24-hexakis (3,4-dialkoxyphenoxy)phthalocyaninato copper(II) [abbreviated as (n,12)PcCu(OCH[Formula: see text])(Acryloyl) (7: e ([Formula: see text] = 10), f ([Formula: see text] = 12), g ([Formula: see text] = 14))] and 2-(12-norborn-2-ene carbonyloxydodecyloxy)-3-methoxy-9,10,16,17,23,24-hexakis(3,4-dialkoxyphenoxy)-phthalocyaninato copper(II): [abbreviated as (n, 12)PcCu(OCH[Formula: see text])(Norb) (9e, f, g)]. Their liquid crystalline properties and homeotropic alignment were investigated using a polarizing microscope, a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and a temperature-variable X-ray diffractometer. As a result, each of the derivatives gave a Col[Formula: see text] mesophase in the higher temperature region, displaying perfect homeotropic alignment between the two glass plates. In order to obtain the thin film while keeping their homeotropic alignment at room temperature, attempts to polymerize the monomers, 7 and 9, in the Col[Formula: see text] phase showed homeotropic alignment. The polymerization of the acryloyl-substituted monomers (7) was not successful in any of the methods, whereas the polymerization of norbornene-substituted monomers (9) was quite successful by ring-opening metathesis polymerization with a Grubbs catalyst to obtain the novel polymers, poly-(n, 12)PcCu(OCH[Formula: see text])(Norb) (10e, f, g). Each of the polymers (10) were found to show a perfect homeotropic alignment from room temperature to ca. 200[Formula: see text]C of the decomposition temperature. Moreover, it was also revealed from temperature-variable small-angle X-ray diffraction studies that each of the polymers 10 showed a helical Col[Formula: see text] (helical tetragonal columnar) structure. The helical Col[Formula: see text] phase structure may be able for use in organic electroluminescent devices and solar cells in the future.