Structural color control by remote electrical manipulation of chiral dopant molecules in a chiral nematic phase

1,2-Bis((cholesteryloxy)octyloxy)-4-nitrobenzene was synthesized as a chiral dopant that exhibited electroresponsiveness in nematic liquid crystal (LC) phases. Even in a nonelectroresponsive host nematic LC, the helical pitch of the chiral nematic phase, generated by doping the chiral dopant molecules, could be altered in response to an external electric field, thus controlling the selective reflection color.