Discotic liquid crystals of transition metal complexes 44: synthesis of hexaphenoxy-substituted phthalocyanine derivatives showing spontaneous perfect homeotropic alignment

Abstract

We have synthesized novel hexaphenoxy-substituted phthalocyanine derivatives, 2-(12-hydroxydodecyloxy)-3-methoxy-9,10,16,17,23,24-hexakis(3,4-di-n-alkoxyphenoxy)phthalocyaninato copper(II) (abbreviated as Cn(OC12OH)PcCu : n = 10, 12, 14), and investigated their columnar mesomorphism and homeotropic alignment property. These hexaphenoxy-substituted Pc derivatives could be successfully isolated and purified from the mixture products by polarity difference. It was revealed by using polarizing optical microscopic observations, differential scanning calorimetry and temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction studies that each of the hexaphenoxy-substituted Pc derivatives has plural mesophases, and that the tetragonal columnar (Coltet) mesophase shows spontaneous perfect homeotropic alignment between two non-surface-treated glass plates without any defects and polydomain boundaries.