Dendrimers with laterally grafted mesogens

Nematic liquid crystalline phases have been obtained by attaching mesogenic units in a lateral manner to the periphery of dendrimer generations 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of poly(propyleneimine). Powder XRD studies of the compounds have been performed in order to confirm the natures of the mesophases. Patterns obtained from oriented samples show a nematic phase in which the molecules are preferentially aligned in the stretching direction and also indicate the presence of local smectic C fluctuations. All compounds display an additional low temperature mesophase. Careful study of the XRD patterns of these low temperature phases has led to their assignment as a modulated SmC-tilde mesophase.