基于光控二芳基乙烯的手性向列相液晶体系研究进展

Progress of chiral nematic liquid-crystal systems with light-driven diarylethenes

光控手性分子开关结合到液晶材料体系中,可以有效利用其光诱导的手性变化,实现远程光刺激液晶材料的自组装螺旋超结构。二芳基乙烯(DAE)是一类新型的、有前景的光致变色分子,作为智能光响应开关,在手性向列相液晶材料体系中表现出优异的性能。本文重点围绕结构设计,总结了一系列具备不同螺旋扭曲力(HTP)的手性DAE分子及其在液晶自组装螺旋结构中所产生的特定性能,如光可逆宽范围调控和光控手性反转。该类光控DAE手性向列相液晶体系在手性调控、光学显示、可调谐激光等领域具有巨大的应用潜力。最后讨论了该领域面临的挑战和机遇,并指出了未来可能的发展方向。

Liquid crystal systems can achieve self-assembly helical superstructure by incorporating chiral photoswitches with light-induced chirality variation upon the remote optical stimuli.Diarylethenes(DAE)are a traditional class of promising photochromic molecules that exhibit excellent performance as smart photoswitches in chiral nematic liquid-crystal systems.Focusing on structural design,this review summarizes the recent development of chiral DAE photoswitches with different helical twisting power(HTP)and their specific properties in liquid-crystal self-assembled helical structures,such as photoreversible wide-range tunability and light-controlled chirality inversion.The light-driven chiral nematic liquid-crystal systems based on DAEs provide potential applications in chiral modulation,optical display,tunable laser and so on.Finally,we discuss the challenges and opportunities to the future development in this field.