Organic-inorganic hybrid liquid crystals:: Hybridization of calamitic liquid-crystalline amines with monodispersed anisotropic TiO2 nanoparticles

A novel organic-inorganic hybrid thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) is developed by the hybridization of an organic amine with a mesogenic core and an acicular anisotropic TiO2 particle through the adsorption of the amino group to the surfaces of the TiO2. The hybrid LC shows nematic phases in wide ranges of temperatures. Variable-temperature small-angle X-ray measurements reveal that the formation of the one-dimensional nematic order of the acicular particles on a submicrometer scale induces thermotropic liquid crystallinity. This technique would lead to induction of dynamic functions in inorganic particles. Copyright © 2003 American Chemical Society.