Solid-state 13C NMR study of banana liquid crystals – 2: Alkyl tail-group packing environments in the hexagonal columnar phase

•Solid-state NMR measurements were performed for the banana-shaped molecule.•NMR spectra show that two alkyl tails assigned to two peaks are at an amorphous state.•We concluded that the two alkyl tails are placed under two different chemical environments.

Solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements were performed in order to obtain the packing structure of alkyl tail in the hexagonal columnar phase of the banana-shaped N(1,7)-S16 molecule. In this phase, NMR chemical shifts assigned to the internal methylene carbons at an amorphous state appear as two peaks, indicating that the two alkyl tails are placed under two different chemical environments. From combined cross-polarization/magic-angle spinning and pulse saturation transfer/magical-angle spinning measurements, two alkyl tails were found to have the different mobility. Such two different environments are not unusual in conventional mesophases, but in the hexagonal columnar phase formed by cylindrical columns composed of enclosed smectic layers; one of the alkyl tails is located inside and the other is located outside the columnar structure.