ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a summary of the results in the field of construction of peptide-based scaffolding for the columnar assembly of discotic liquid crystals. Discotic liquid crystals are disc-shaped molecules containing rigid aromatic cores and flexible alkyl side-chains. The mesophase behaviour of the discotic molecules in the presence of various monoamines and diamines were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and hot-stage polarizing optical microscopy. For the mono-amines, a 1:1 molar ratio of the amine to discotic was used, whereas for the diamines a 1:2 ratio of the diamine to discotic was used. The discotic molecule shows conductance in the isotropic and mesophase state but no conductance in the crystalline state. Moreover, while moving from isotropic to mesophase region, a decrease in conductance is observed. Conjugate 1, prepared from a 1:2 ratio of 1,2-diaminoethane to discotic, was filled in a gold-coated cell and heated to its isotropic state.
