Improving organisation of discotics: annealing, shape, side groups, chirality

Abstract

Liquid crystals were of premier interest to Zeev Luz. In particular, he studied discotic liquid crystals by NMR spectroscopy in the early 1980s already, very soon after this new class of mesophases was reported in the late 1970s. In these early days, it was hardly imagined that today discotic liquid crystals play a major in the organisation of columnar systems, which exhibit especially high charge carrier mobility, making them interesting materials for organic electronics. This short commemorative review puts several of Luz’ pioneering NMR studies of structure and dynamics of discotic liquid crystals into perspective by relating them to specific current investigations of such supramolecular systems.