Supermolecular liquid crystals

Abstract

In this article we review recent work on the development and study of the properties of self-organising supermolecular and supramolecular materials, that are in size comparable to small proteins. We take the concept of the creation of dendritic liquid crystals, and apply it to the creation of new materials with single identifiable entities, so that they are monodisperse or are single compounds. We show how functionality can be in-built into such materials so that self-organising functional systems can be created.