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Emergent chirality in achiral liquid crystals: insights from molecular simulation models of the behaviour of bent-core mesogens

Lintuvuori, Juho S.; Yu, Gary; Walker, Martin; Wilson, Mark R.

Emergent chirality in achiral liquid crystals: insights from molecular simulation models of the behaviour of bent-core mesogens Thumbnail


Authors

Juho S. Lintuvuori

Gary Yu

Martin Walker



Abstract

We report insights into the behaviour of achiral bent-core liquid crystals using (a) atomistic models of the PnOPIMB series of mesogens and (b) simple coarse-grained models that demonstrate the spontaneous transfer of chirality between molecules by preferential selection of chiral conformations. The models explain the unusual phenomena that chiral interactions can lead to an increase in chirality (decrease in pitch) of a bulk cholesteric liquid crystal when doped with an achiral material. We demonstrate also that chiral interactions are sufficiently strong to induce nanophase separation of an achiral mesogen within a liquid crystal phase, into nanodomains of opposite handedness by preferential selection of conformations that are instantaneously chiral (i.e. nanophase separation of and conformations of a molecule that is strictly achiral). We suggest that this unusual behaviour contributes to the templating of chiral structures in bulk phases and, hence, to many of the extraordinary properties of bent-core mesogens that include the formations of helical nanofilaments and the chiral dark conglomerate phase.

Citation

Lintuvuori, J. S., Yu, G., Walker, M., & Wilson, M. R. (2018). Emergent chirality in achiral liquid crystals: insights from molecular simulation models of the behaviour of bent-core mesogens. Liquid Crystals, 45(13-15), 1996-2009. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2018.1492037

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 19, 2018
Online Publication Date Jul 5, 2018
Publication Date Jun 1, 2018
Deposit Date May 10, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Liquid Crystals
Print ISSN 0267-8292
Electronic ISSN 1366-5855
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 45
Issue 13-15
Pages 1996-2009
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2018.1492037

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Accepted Journal Article (2.7 Mb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.







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