A layered liquid crystalline droplet

Abstract

A liquid crystalline compound, which contains cholesterol, tetrathiafulvalene, and 1,5-dioxynaphthalene moieties, was characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and polarized optical microscopy. Investigations by atomic force microscopy show that the liquid crystal can self-organize to form layered droplet superstructures on mica substrates which exhibit dynamic spreading behavior on the substrate surfaces, i.e., (i) after dropping the liquid crystalline material onto the substrate, a substructure layer extends out from the central reservoir, (ii) as the droplet spreads out and flattens, the multilayered droplet appears, (iii) the droplet continues to spread out and some of the layers disappear and flatten down to the substructure layer. © 2009 The Royal Society of Chemistry.