Strategies are being developed for the inclusion of new molecular switches into the materials – either liquid crystalline (LC) or solid state (SS). To produce mesomorphic LC materials, various functional groups are appended that favour aggregation into soft lamellar and smectic materials. For hard SS materials, we fine-tune the synthetic procedures used to prepare MIMs and switches so that they can act as efficient ligands for incorporation into metal-based systems such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs).
For example:
Mesomorphic [2]Rotaxanes: Sheltering Ionic Cores with Interlocking Components." J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 400-408.
Metal-Organic Frameworks with Dynamic Interlocked Components, Nature Chem., 2012, 4, 456-460