Discotic Liquid Crystals of Transition Metal Complexes, 4:¹Novel Discotic Liquid Crystals Obtained from Substituted Bis(dithiolene)nickel Complexes by a New Method

Two new disc-like complexes, bis [1, 2-di (p-nonyloxyphenyl) ethane-1, 2-dithiolene] nickel (6a) and bis[1, 2-di-(p-undecyloxyphenyl) ethane-l, 2-dithiolene] nickel (6b), have been synthesized by a new method. It was found that the complexes exhibit discotic mesomorphism. The half-wave potentials for the reduction of the nickel complexes (6a, b) determined by cyclic voltammetry, are -0.06V (6a) and -0.07V for (6b) vs. SCE in CH2Cl2. The nickel complexes (6a, b) are only a few examples of π-acceptor discotic liquid crystals.