Liquid crystal properties resulting from synergetic effects between non-mesogenic organic molecules and a one nanometre sized octahedral transition metal cluster.

This work presents the synthesis and studies of a red-NIR luminescent liquid crystal compound based on an octahedral metallic cluster core orthogonally bounded to six non-mesogenic organic ligands. It evidences synergetic effects between the organic and inorganic parts of the hybrid, resulting in the generation of liquid crystal properties on cooling from the isotropic melt.