Designer Ionic Liquid Crystals Based on Congruently Shaped Guanidinium Sulfonates

Ionic liquid crystals are mesogenic compounds that consist of cations and anions, usually rod-like cations and spherical anions. Herein we report a new method for the synthesis of ionic liquid crystals by using cations and anions of the same molecular shape with oppositely charged head groups. Thus, 4-alkoxyphenylpentamethylguanidinium 4-alkoxyphenylsulfonate ion pairs have been synthesised. 4-Alkoxyphenylpentamethylguanidinium iodides were also prepared to determine the influence of congruently shaped anions, in comparison with their spherical counterparts, on mesophase behaviour, which was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarising optical microscopy (POM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). All the liquid crystalline salts exhibit smectic A mesophases with strongly interdigitated bilayer structures. The guanidinium sulfonate ion pairs show mesomorphic properties from shorter alkyl chain lengths (=C9) and lower melting points (similar to 10 K), whereas the corresponding guanidinium iodides are liquid crystalline for longer alkyl chain lengths (=C14). For chains with =C18, however, the mesophase range decreases for the sulfonate ion pairs, but not for the iodide salts.