Liquid crystalline behaviors of porphyrin iron(III) chloride complexes with different alkyl chain lengths

Abstract

Two novel porphyrin liquid crystals were designed and synthesized. Their structures were characterized by NMR, FT-IR, UV-visible, and mass spectroscopies. The liquid crystalline properties were investigated by DSC, POM and XRD analyses. The C${}_{12}$ and C${}_{18}$ alkyl chains porphyrin iron(III) complex (1-2) displayed three liquid crystalline transitions in a wide temperature range. Both long alkyl chain porphyrin iron(III) complexes were exhibited a columnar mesophase type.