ABSTRACT Designing and self-assembly of unconventional star-shaped mesogens or ‘hekates’ are of interest to materials science and molecular electronics. This work presents the synthesis of several symmetric trimeric liquid crystalline compounds comprising 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene (phloroglucinol) as central core. The liquid crystalline behaviour was induced by attaching three rod-like azo-aromatic semi-flexible units to the central core via esteric linkages. Based on differential scanning calorimetry and polarising optical microscopy, the mesophase stability mainly depends on the alkyl chain length. The compounds showed monotropic or enantiotropic behaviour, except the compound with nine atoms on the chain end which is non-mesomorphic. In addition to the synthesis and mesophase characterisation, the self-assembled structures and individual properties have been characterised by molecular simulations. Graphical Abstract

中文翻译：

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基于1,3,5-三羟基苯的自组装星形液晶，带有烷氧基化偶氮苯悬臂

摘要 材料科学和分子电子学对非常规星形介晶或“hekates”的设计和自组装很感兴趣。这项工作介绍了几种对称三聚液晶化合物的合成，包括 1,3,5-三羟基苯（间苯三酚）作为中心核心。通过酯键将三个棒状偶氮芳族半柔性单元连接到中心核来诱导液晶行为。基于差示扫描量热法和偏光显微镜，中间相稳定性主要取决于烷基链长。这些化合物表现出单向性或对映性行为，除了链端有九个原子的化合物是非介晶的。除了合成和中间相表征，自组装结构和个体特性已通过分子模拟表征。图形概要