An Insight of Chiral <i>I</i>432 Cubic Phase Formed by Polycatenar Molecules

Continuous cubic phases in liquid crystal has long been investigated for their complexity. A giant continuous cubic phase, regarded as Im3m space group then, formed by over 2500 molecules in each unit cell was discovered in 2005. That is astonishing for small molecules self-assembled into such a complex structure precisely and stably. Since then, though various hypotheses raised, the detailed structure remains unsolved until now. Recently, the chirality of this cubic phase formed by a series of achiral polycatenar molecules was reported. This chirality inspired us on the molecular arrangement in the structure. Combined the mathematical model and direct Fourier reconstruction of electron density slice, a theoretical model with helical molecular arrangement is raised by our team. Calculation concentrating on packing efficiency and simulated scattering intensities of the model has been conducted to verify the model. And more experiments based on soft X-ray scattering and electron transmission tomography are in progress to further reveal the structure.