A novel liquid crystal containing a dibenzo-18-crown-6 unit was prepared. The ionic conductivity was increased 1.5 orders of magnitude by the addition of an equimolar amount of K+. However neither Na+ nor Li+ yielded suitable samples corresponding to the ion-size matching of the crown ether unit.

The conformational control of 12,13,25,26-tetraaza-2,15-dithia[3.3]phenanthrolinophane by protonation was accomplished both in solution phase and in the solid state as observed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectra and single crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis, respectively.