Formation of a Cubic Liquid Crystalline Nanostructure with [pi]-Conjugated Fluorinated Rods on the Gyroid Minimal Surface

Bicontinuous cubic phases are of significant importance for numerous applications, for example, for the crystallization of membrane proteins, as photonic materials and as templates for porous silica. A new variant of bicontinuous cubic liquid crystalline phase with Ia3 d lattice is reported herein for X-shaped bolapolyphiles. It was shown that in this class of compounds, cubic-phase induction can be achieved by proper aromatic core fluorination; in addition, the first cubic phases having π-conjugated oligo(phenylene ethynylene) rods on the gyroid minimal surface were obtained. These new structures composed of 3D folded layers of parallel arranged π-conjugated rods should allow charge transport in all three dimensions, which is of interest for organic semiconductor applications.