Tetrahedral Liquid‐Crystalline Networks: An A15‐Like Frank–Kasper Phase Based on Rod‐Packing

The Pm3‾ n cubic and other low‐symmetry Frank–Kasper phases are known to be formed by soft spheres, ranging from metals to block copolymer micelles and colloidal nanoparticles. Here, we report a series of X‐shaped polyphiles composed of sticky rods and two non‐symmetric branched side‐chains, which self‐assemble into the first example of a cubic liquid‐crystalline phase representing a tetrahedral network of rods with a Pm3‾ n lattice. It is the topological dual to the Weaire–Phelan foam, being the Voronoi tessellation of the A15 sphere packing, from which this network is obtained by Delaunay triangulation. The first Frank–Kasper phase representing a tetrahedral network of molecular rods is reported. It is the topological dual to the Weaire–Phelan foam, being the Voronoi tessellation of the A15 sphere packing, from which this network is obtained by Delaunay triangulation.