Single-component room-temperature discotic nematic liquid crystals formed by introducing an attraction-enhancing in-plane protrusion onto the hexa(phenylethynyl)benzene coreElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: General procedure, additional optical textures and thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis data. See DOI: 10.1039/c2jm16263f

Single-component room-temperature discotic nematics have been achieved within large temperature ranges by introducing an attraction-enhancing protrusion onto hexa(phenylethynyl)benzenes. X-ray diffraction investigations revealed the nematic phases of these new discotic nematic materials to be cybotactic. Single-component room-temperature discotic nematic liquid crystals formed by unsymmetrical attraction-enhancement of discs with an in-plane protrusion.