It is often a question that is asked: “How can you predict from the molecular architecture of a material the structure of the condensed phases it forms, and what properties would you expect the phase to exhibit?” For liquid crystals, knowing how to design materials for particular applications requires precision molecular engineering. In this article we examine how molecular topology and interactions influence phase formation and report on material design.

Gold nanoparticles offer the possibility of creating metamaterials; however, such nanoparticles are not particularly stable. Conversely, liquid crystals offer the possibility of creating self-organizing and self-assembling materials, which can be designed to be relatively stable. Potentially, combining these two concepts could provide materials that can be induced to assemble in a controlled way and that would have unique optical properties. This article describes some of the groundwork made in the preparation of stable liquid-crystalline metamaterials and the investigation of their structures and physical properties. In particular, spherically substituted materials are found to be deformed into tactoids with anisotropic properties, most notably their dielectric anisotropies.