Synthesis, Characterization and Study of Liquid Crystals Based on the Ionic Association of the Keplerate Anion [Mo132O372(CH3COO)30(H2O)72]42− and Imidazolium Cations

A series of eight new materials based on the ionic association between 1-methyl-3-alkylimidazolium cations and the nanometric anionic Keplerate [Mo132O372(CH3COO)30(H2O)72]42− has been prepared and characterized in the solid state. The liquid crystal properties of these materials were investigated by the combination of Polarized Optical Microscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Small-angle X-Ray Diffraction showing a self-organization in lamellar (L) mesophases for the major part of them. From the interlamellar spacing h and the intercluster distance ahex, we demonstrated that the cations are not randomly organized around the anionic cluster and that the alkyl OPEN ACCESS Inorganics 2015, 3 247 chains of the cations are certainly folded, which limits the van der Waals interactions between the cations within the liquid crystal phase and therefore harms the quality of the mesophases.