Latticework Nanostructure by Chemical Function Transfer and Molecular Shape Amplification of Programmed Reactive Mesogens

By controlling the hierarchical superstructures by chemical function transfer and shape amplification of molecular building blocks, advanced materials with the desired properties can be developed. To realize this concept, a latticework nanostructure is constructed for a single-layered negative dispersion (ND) retarder by the newly synthesized hydrogen-donating HBP host reactive mesogen (RM) and the hydrogen-accepting X2RM guest RM mixture. The latticework nanostructures forming the single-layered thin film are self-assembled where conjugated backbones of X2RM are aligned parallel to the smectic layer of HBP. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding and shape amplifications between HBP and X2RM with the help of the photoisomerization of X2RM lead to the latticework nanostructure. The newly developed single-layered thin film exhibits ND retardation closed to the ideal value, which is applied to the flexible antireflective film. This research demonstrates that chemical function transfer and shape amplification of programmed molecules allow us to fabricate optical films with the desired properties on a macroscopic length scale.