C₃ Symmetric Hexaphenyltriphenylenehexamide: Molecular Design of Fluorescent Ferroelectrics

Organic materials with diverse molecular designs and assemblies may exhibit new multifunctional properties such as coupled ferroelectric, optical, and transport properties. Herein, we propose design guidelines for multifunctional organic ferroelectric materials based on areneoligoxamide. The key points are the careful selection of a disk-shaped central π scaffold and the symmetric introduction of terminal alkyl amide groups with high motility. The effectiveness of these guidelines are demonstrated through the synthesis of C₃ symmetric hexaphenyltriphenylenehexamide (6TP), which showed a significant polarization-electric field hysteresis in the liquid crystalline (LC) state with fluorescent properties. Spacing between the ortho-diamide with a phenylene spacer not only expanded the molecular design for ferroelectric LC but also increased the thermal stability of areneoligoxamide.