Engineering Molecular Crystals: Backbreaking, yet Gratifying

Engineering molecular crystals with abnormally weak cohesion.

Adding astutely placed methyl groups to hexaphenylbenzene increases molecular weight but simultaneously weakens key C-H···π interactions, thereby leading to decreased enthalpies of sublimation and showing that materials with abnormally weak cohesion can be made by identifying and then obstructing interactions that help control association.

Molecular engineering of chiral colloidal liquid crystals using DNA origami.

Establishing precise control over the shape and the interactions of the microscopic building blocks is essential for design of macroscopic soft materials with novel structural, optical and mechanical properties. Here, we demonstrate robust assembly of DNA origami filaments into cholesteric liquid crystals, one-dimensional supramolecular twisted ribbons and two-dimensional colloidal membranes. T...

A fruitful and gratifying collaboration.

Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals

Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals

The problem of finding the equilibrium shape of a small particle by the Wulff construction is reviewed briefly, with emphasis on its applications to liquid crystals. The proof of Wulff’s theorem is stated in a concise mathematical form. Some typical equilibrium shapes of liquid crystalline cirops are described. When there is orientational order of the molecules in the liquid crystal but no tran...