Probing a microviscosity change at the nematic-isotropic liquid crystal phase transition by a ratiometric flapping fluorophore

Understanding the microviscosity of soft condensed matter is important to clarify the mechanisms of chemical, physical or biological events occurring at the nanoscale. Here, we report that flapping fluorophores (FLAP) can serve as microviscosity probes capable of detecting small changes. By the rati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) England), 2022-02, Vol.58 (13), p.2128-2131
Main Authors: Kimura, Ryo, Kitakado, Hidetsugu, Yamakado, Takuya, Yoshida, Hiroyuki, Saito, Shohei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical compounds
Crystal structure
Crystals
Flapping
Fluorescence
Liquid crystals
Nematic crystals
Phase transitions
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Understanding the microviscosity of soft condensed matter is important to clarify the mechanisms of chemical, physical or biological events occurring at the nanoscale. Here, we report that flapping fluorophores (FLAP) can serve as microviscosity probes capable of detecting small changes. By the ratiometric fluorescence analysis, one of the FLAP probes detects a macroscopic viscosity change of a few cP, occurring at the thermal phase transition of a nematic liquid crystal. We discuss the impact of the chemical structure on the detection capability, and the orientation of the FLAP molecules in the ground and excited states. This work contributes to experimentally providing a molecular picture of liquid crystals, which are often viewed as a continuum. Flapping ratiometric fluorescent probe (FLAP) monitors a small change in microviscosity during the phase transition of the 5CB nematic liquid crystal.
ISSN:1359-7345
1364-548X
DOI:10.1039/d1cc06111a