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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...

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Autores principales: Oster, Linda M., Shechter, Jake, Strain, Benjamin, Shivrayan, Manisha, Thayumanavan, Sankaran Thai, Ross, Jennifer L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
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.
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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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