crystals Article Tuning the Liquid Crystallinity of Cholesteryl-o-Carborane Dyads: Synthesis, Structure, Photoluminescence, and Mesomorphic Properties Albert Ferrer-Ugalde 1,† , Arántzazu González-Campo 1,† , José Giner Planas 1 , Clara Viñas 1 , Francesc Teixidor 1, Isabel M. Sáez 2,* and Rosario Núñez 1,*,‡ 1 Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain;
[email protected] (A.F.-U.);
[email protected] (A.G.-C.);
[email protected] (J.G.P.);
[email protected] (C.V.);
[email protected] (F.T.) 2 Agap Materials Solutions UK, Hull HU16 4RL, UK * Correspondence:
[email protected] (I.M.S.);
[email protected] (R.N.) † A.F.-U. and A.G.-C. contributed equally to this work. ‡ Dedicated to the Professor, friend and colleague Alan Welch who has managed with his research and enthusiasm at bringing boron cluster chemistry closer to the scientific community. Abstract: A set of mesomorphic materials in which the o-carborane cluster is covalently bonded to a cholesteryl benzoate moiety (mesogen group) through a suitably designed linker is described. The olefin cross-metathesis between appropriately functionalized styrenyl-o-carborane derivatives and a terminal alkenyl cholesteryl benzoate mesogen (all type I terminal olefins) leads to the desired trans-regioisomer, which is the best-suited configuration to obtain mesomorphic properties in the final materials. The introduction of different substituents (R = H (M2), Me (M3), or Ph (M4)) to one of the carbon atoms of the o-carborane cluster (Ccluster) enables the tailoring of liquid crystalline properties. Citation: Ferrer-Ugalde, A.; González- Compounds M2 and M3 show the chiral nematic (N*) phase, whereas M4 do not show liquid crystal Campo, A.n.; Planas, J.G.; Viñas, C.; Teixidor, F.; Sáez, I.M; Núñez, R.