Unfolding multi-stranded perylene bisimide LC columns - a mesogen design for efficient nanoscale multilayer self-assembly.

A mesogen tethered, twofold bay-substituted perylene bisimide (PBI) is found to generate a columnar phase, which unfolds and gradually transforms to a completely nanosegregated multilayer columnar-lamellar liquid crystal. The structure is based on the formation of bundles of H-bonded PBI strands in the central layer. This design opens the way to new complex multifunctional materials.