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Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers
Liquid crystals are able to transform a local molecular interaction into a macroscopic change of state, making them a valuable “smart” material. Here, we investigate a novel polymeric amphiphile as a candidate for molecular triggering of liquid crystal droplets in aqueous background. Using microscop...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839850/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35164141 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules27030878 |
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author | Oster, Linda M. Shechter, Jake Strain, Benjamin Shivrayan, Manisha Thayumanavan, Sankaran Thai Ross, Jennifer L. |
author_facet | Oster, Linda M. Shechter, Jake Strain, Benjamin Shivrayan, Manisha Thayumanavan, Sankaran Thai Ross, Jennifer L. |
author_sort | Oster, Linda M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Liquid crystals are able to transform a local molecular interaction into a macroscopic change of state, making them a valuable “smart” material. Here, we investigate a novel polymeric amphiphile as a candidate for molecular triggering of liquid crystal droplets in aqueous background. Using microscopy equipped with crossed polarizers and optical tweezers, we find that the monomeric amphiphile is able to trigger both a fast phase change and then a subsequent transition from nematic to isotropic. We next include sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a standard surfactant, with the novel amphiphilic molecules to test phase transitioning when both were present. As seen previously, we find that the activity of SDS at the surface can result in configuration changes with hysteresis. We find that the presence of the polymeric amphiphile reverses the hysteresis previously observed during such transitions. This work demonstrates a variety of phase and configuration changes of liquid crystals that can be controlled by multiple exogenous chemical triggers. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8839850 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88398502022-02-13 Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers Oster, Linda M. Shechter, Jake Strain, Benjamin Shivrayan, Manisha Thayumanavan, Sankaran Thai Ross, Jennifer L. Molecules Article Liquid crystals are able to transform a local molecular interaction into a macroscopic change of state, making them a valuable “smart” material. Here, we investigate a novel polymeric amphiphile as a candidate for molecular triggering of liquid crystal droplets in aqueous background. Using microscopy equipped with crossed polarizers and optical tweezers, we find that the monomeric amphiphile is able to trigger both a fast phase change and then a subsequent transition from nematic to isotropic. We next include sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a standard surfactant, with the novel amphiphilic molecules to test phase transitioning when both were present. As seen previously, we find that the activity of SDS at the surface can result in configuration changes with hysteresis. We find that the presence of the polymeric amphiphile reverses the hysteresis previously observed during such transitions. This work demonstrates a variety of phase and configuration changes of liquid crystals that can be controlled by multiple exogenous chemical triggers. MDPI 2022-01-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8839850/ /pubmed/35164141 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules27030878 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Oster, Linda M. Shechter, Jake Strain, Benjamin Shivrayan, Manisha Thayumanavan, Sankaran Thai Ross, Jennifer L. Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers |
title | Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers |
title_full | Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers |
title_fullStr | Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers |
title_full_unstemmed | Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers |
title_short | Controlling Liquid Crystal Configuration and Phase Using Multiple Molecular Triggers |
title_sort | controlling liquid crystal configuration and phase using multiple molecular triggers |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839850/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35164141 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules27030878 |
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