Ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) are closely related to ionic liquids. They have one key different feature compared to ionic liquids in that they consist of at least one long alkyl chain. This also differentiates them from liquid crystals where the alkyl chains are usually short and must contain a rigid core. The applications of ILCs tend to exploit their anisotropic ion conductivity, and they have been used as ordered reaction media or templates for the synthesis of mesoporous materials. A clear understanding of the many molecular factors influencing the ionic mesophases from experimental efforts is lacking.
In this hot paper, Saielli uses molecular dynamics stimulations (coarse-grained force fields) to give a semi-quantitative description of the mesomorphic behaviour of 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate. The author shows that coarse-grained force fields can be tuned to better reproduce the thermal range of stability of the mesophase.
MD simulation of the mesomorphic behaviour of 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate: assessment of the performance of a coarse-grained force field
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 10279. DOI: 10.1039/c2sm26376a (free to read for a short time)
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