A Complex Cubic Liquid-Crystalline Phase Self-Organized from Five Differently Distorted Supramolecular Globular Dendrimers

Previously our laboratory reported complex helical columnar, cubic, tetragonal, and liquid quasicrystal periodic and quasiperiodic functional helical arrays (including homochiral) self-organized from supramolecular dendrimers. They have attracted the interest of theoreticians and have been discovered in many other areas of soft matter, creating a new field of research. Here we report the discovery, to the best of our knowledge, of an unprecedentedly complex <i>Pm</i><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mover><mml:mi>3</mml:mi><mml:mo>¯</mml:mo></mml:mover></mml:math><i>m</i> cubic phase self-organized from 29 distorted globular supramolecular dendrimers with similar internal organization exhibiting five different shapes. This cubic periodic array resembles the tetragonal periodic structure, which is self-organized from 30 supramolecular dendrimers containing five differently distorted globular shapes. The thermodynamically controlled transition between these two closely related ordered arrays, hierarchically self-organized via a crown-like secondary structure, addresses key questions concerning the reversible conversion between tetragonal and cubic arrangements of 30 and 29 globular supramolecular dendrimers distorted in each case in five different ways. These results enlarge the diversity of periodic arrays of the <i>Pm</i><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mover><mml:mi>3</mml:mi><mml:mo>¯</mml:mo></mml:mover></mml:math><i>m</i> space group, raising fundamental enquiries related to the origins of order and homochirality in natural sciences.