SIDE-CHAIN INFLUENCE ON MESOMORPHIC PROPERTIES - LOW-TEMPERATURE MELTING OF METAL-CONTAINING LIQUID-CRYSTALS

Metal-containing liquid crystals offer the possibility of obtaining me sogenic materials with novel electronic properties. However, the trans ition temperatures need to be reduced before applications can be found . The authors describe the first fully characterized metallomesogens w ith an authentic columnar mesophase near room temperature, which were obtained by inserting carbon-carbon double bonds as the ''R'' group in the carboxylate ligands (see Figure).