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A. I. Smirnova^1,2, D. W. Bruce¹

Author affiliations
¹Department of Chemistry, University of York,
Heslington, YO10 5DD, YORK, UK
²Nanomaterials Research Institute, Ivanovo State University,
153025 Ivanovo, Russia, ul. Ermaka, 37/7

Abstract
Calamitic stilbazole complexes of silver(I) containing a tetradecylsulfate anion have been studied. The thermotropic behaviour of these materials shows the presence of nematic, SmC, SmA, S₄ and cubic phases. On addition of solvent, three types of behaviour can be discerned: apolar solvents associate with the ligand terminal chains and promote phases with curved interfaces; small dipolar, aprotic solvents associate with the core and favour mesophases that do not possess curved interfaces, while short-chain alcohols hydrogen bond with the ionic core of the complexes to form ribbon-like structures that organise into chro-monic phases. This solvent-induced behaviour is compared with the solvent-induced behav-iour of analogous polycatenar complexes of silver(I) and with more conventional, calamitic organic compounds with hydroxy-terminated chains.

Keywords: calamitic mesogens, metallomesogens, solvent-induced mesomorphism, silver