Controlling the curvature

Liquid Crystals Molecular chirality is often required to make chiral liquid crystalline phases, but liquid crystallinity has also been obtained using curved elongated rods known as bent-core or banana-shaped molecules. Fernandez-Rico et al. developed a method to controllably alter the curvature of the rods using ultraviolet light and a photoresponsive polymer (see the Perspective by Godinho). From a single starting batch can come a family of rods with different curvatures but similar overall rod thickness, length, and length distribution. The researchers explored a range of liquid crystalline phases, including the splay-bend nematic phase that was predicted more than 40 years ago. Science , this issue p. [950][1]; see also p. [918][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abb4536 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abd3548