Synthesis and characterization of new H-shaped triphenylene discotic room-temperature liquid crystal tetramers by a copper-free click reactionElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7nj02695a

Herein, four new H-shaped triphenylene discotic liquid crystal tetramers have been designed and synthesized using a copper-free [3+2] cycloaddition reaction between the triphenylene dimer and diazide compounds. To probe the molecular self-assembly and mesophase properties, the length and rigid spacers in diazide have been tailored. The tetramers 7 with a soft spacer display a room-temperature enantiotropic DLC mesophase, and X-ray diffraction confirms that they exhibit an unusual mesophase of a lamellar-hexagonal columnar phase (Col hl ). The results of the photophysical tests show that all the new H-shaped DLC tetramers display relatively high intensity photoluminescence properties. A series of new H-shaped triphenylene discotic liquid crystal tetramers has been designed and synthesized using a copper-free [3+2] cycloaddition reaction.