Columnar Discotic Liquid-Crystalline Oxadiazoles as Electron-Transport Materials

A range of discoid species with benzene or triazine cores and three (trialkoxyaryl)oxadiazole arms have been synthesized. 1,3,5-tris{5-[3,4,5-tris(octyloxy)phenyl]-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl}benzene has been studied in detail; it exhibits a columnar discotic liquid-crystalline mesophase between 38 and about 210 °C. The time-of-flight electron mobility at room-temperature varies from about 10-3 to 10-4 cm2 V-1 s-1, indicating these materials may find applications in organic electronics.