Guest–host interactions between dichroic dyes and anisotropic hosts

The guest–host interaction between dichroic dyes and anistropic hosts has been investigated by means of optical spectroscopy. Two different TCNQ adducts; 2-{4-[(2,6-dimethylmorpholin-4-yl)(4-metylpiperidin-1-yl)methylene]cyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-ylidene} malononitrile (MORPIP) and 2-{4-[cyclohex-1-yltetrahydropyrimidin-2(1H-ylidene]cyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-ylidine} malononitrile (AMINO) have been examined dispersed in a range of nematic liquid crystal mixtures. The result is a substantial impact on the absorption and luminescence when compared to the situation in isotropic solvents. The excited state decay exhibits a complex behaviour showing a multi-exponential decay of the time-resolved luminescence. The photoluminescence quantum yields of the chromophores, also shows strong host dependence. For AMINO, we observe a trend which is indicative of a viscosity dependence. The observations are discussed in view of different solvent–solute interactions between guest and host.