Dendromesogens: Liquid Crystal Organizations of Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimers versus Starburst Structures

A new series of liquid crystalline poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers is described. These dendrimers are made by attaching to the 0‐, 1‐, 2‐, 3‐, and 4‐generation of PAMAM‐terminal promesogenic units that carry two decyloxy chains in the 3‐ and 4‐positions of their peripheral aromatic ring. X‐ray diffraction studies show that all the compounds display a hexagonal columnar mesophase. A high density of aliphatic chains imposes a curved interface with the promesogenic units that forces the molecules to adopt a radial conformation, and therefore, the columnar structure. A model for the supramolecular organization of the different generations within the columnar mesophase is proposed based on the variation of some of the structural parameters.