Using "internal free volume" to increase chromophore alignment.

Triptycenes have general applicability for increasing the alignment of fluorescent and dichroic dyes in LC hosts. Dyes containing varying numbers of triptycenes were synthesized to study the effect of free-volume alignment of triptycenes on the alignment of dyes. These dyes were designed such that multiple triptycenes could be incorporated and the triptycene-free volume is coincident to the aspect ratio of the dye, allowing a cooperative effect to increase their overall average alignment. With increasing triptycene incorporation, a stepwise increase in the alignment parameters of each dye was seen. It was also found that the attachment of one triptycene group has a negligible effect on the optical switching response times of the dyes. This can be a powerful tool for designing dyes with higher alignments for a variety of applications including guest-host reflective LCDs and holographic data storage.