Chemistry Letters, Vol.39, No.11, 1144-1145, 2010
Photoinduced Phase Transitions in Chiral Binaphthyl-diol-doped Smectic Liquid Crystals by a Photochromic Azobenzene
The liquid crystalline states of mixtures of smectic 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl, chiral binaphthyl-diol, and a photochromic azobenzene derivative, 4-n-hexyl-4'-(1-bromopropyloxy)azo-benzene, are dependant on the chiral dopant and azobenzene concentrations The trans-to-cis isomerization of azobenzene induces the phase transition from smectic to cholesteric and then to isotropic states