With the goal of developing diverse building blocks for nanocomposite mater
ials, we have now learned to synthesize liquid crystalline materials by app
ending mesogenic groups to cubic silsesquioxane cores (LC cubes) via hydros
ilylation of allyloxy functionalized mesogens (4, 5, 8, and 9) with octakis
(dimethylsiloxy)octasilsesquioxane (Q(8)M(8)(H)). On average, hydrosilylati
on leads to cubes with an average of five LC groups attached, which differ
from the more "regular", fully LC-substituted analogues reported previously
. Despite the structural irregularity, three out of the four penta-LC-cube
derivatives (II-IV) show LC transitions, with a tendency to form SmA. LC be
havior was characterized using differential scanning calorimetry, polarized
light microscopy, and X-ray diffractometry.