Hydrogen bonding is one of the important interactions in nature. We have shown that the use of hydrogen bonding for the design of liquid crystalline materials is a versatile approach to the control of simple molecularly assembled structures and the induction of dynamic function.

A variety of liquid crystals has been prepared by self-assembly processes through the formation of hydrogen bonds. Rod-like and disk-like low-molecular-weight complexes and polymeric complexes with side-chain, main-chain, network, and guest-host structures have been built from complimentary and identical hydrogen-bonded molecules.

1. Functional Liquid Crystals towards the Next Generation of Materials
   Takashi Kato, Junya Uchida, Takahiro Ichikawa, and Takeshi Sakamoto
   Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 57, 4355-4371 (2018).
2. Mechanoresponsive Luminescent Molecular Assemblies: An Emerging Class of Materials
   Yoshimitsu Sagara, Shogo Yamane, Masato Mitani, Christoph Weder, and Takashi Kato
   Adv. Mater., 28, 1073 (2016).
3. Hydrogen-Bonded Systems: Discrete Defined Aggregates by Intermolecular H-Bonding, Amides, Carboxylic Acids, and Heterocycles (Chapter 10)
   Takashi Kato and Yuko Kamikawa
   Handbook of Liquid Crystals 2nd Edition (Eds. John W. Goodby, Peter J. Collings, Takashi Kato, Carsten Tschierske, Helen Gleeson, and Peter Raynes) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 5, 513 (2014).
4. Stimuli-Responsive Photoluminescent Liquid Crystals
   Shogo Yamane, Kana Tanabe, Yoshimitsu Sagara, and Takashi Kato
   Top. Curr. Chem., 318, 395 (2012).
5. Functional Soft Materials: Nanostructured Liquid Crystals and Soft-Assembled Fibrous Aggregates
   Takashi Kato, Yoshiko Shoji, Masafumi Yoshio, Shogo Yamane, and Takuma Yasuda
   J. Synth. Org. Chem. Jpn., 68, 1169 (2010).
6. Mechanically Induced Luminescence Changes in Molecular Assemblies
   Yoshimitsu Sagara and Takashi Kato
   Nature Chem., 1, 605 (2009).
7. Electro- and Photo-Active Molecular Assemblies of Liquid Crystals and Physical Gels
   Takashi Kato and Kana Tanabe
   Chem. Lett., 38, 634 (2009)
8. Self-Assembly of Functional Columnar Liquid Crystals
   Takashi Kato, Takuma Yasuda, Yuko Kamikawa, and Masafumi Yoshio
   Chem. Commun., 2009, 729.
9. Functional Liquid-Crystalline Polymers for Ionic and Electronic Conduction
   Masahiro Funahashi, Harutoki Shimura, Masafumi Yoshio, and Takashi Kato
   Struct. Bond., 128, 151 (2008).
10. Functional Liquid Crystalline Assemblies: Self-Organized Soft Materials
    Takashi Kato, Norihiro Mizoshita, and Kenji Kishimoto
    Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 45, 38 (2006).
11. Self-Assembly of Phase-Segregated Liquid Crystal Structures
    Takashi Kato
    Science, 295, 2414 (2002).
12. Hydrogen-Bonded Liquid Crystalline Materials: Supramolecular Polymeric Assembly and the Induction of Dynamic Function
    Takashi Kato, Norihiro Mizoshita, and Kiyoshi Kanie
    Macromol. Rapid Commun., 22, 797 (2001).
13. Hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals: Molecular self-assembly for dynamically functional materials
    Takashi Kato, Struct. Bond., 96, 95 (2000).
14. Hydrogen-Bonding and the Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Liquid-Crystalline Materials
    Takashi Kato and Jean M. J. Fréchet
    Macromol. Symp., 98, 311 (1995).

1. Guanine-Oligothiophene Conjugates: Liquid-Crystalline Properties, Photoconductivities and Ion-Responsive Emission of Their Nanoscale Assemblies
   Kian Ping Gan, Masafumi Yoshio, Yuki Sugihara and Takashi Kato
   Chem. Sci., 9, 576-585 (2018).
2. Self-Assembly of Giant Spherical Liquid-Crystalline Complexes and Formation of Nanostructured Dynamic Gels that Exhibit Self-Healing Properties
   Junya Uchida, Masafumi Yoshio, Sota Sato, Hiroyuki Yokoyama, Makoto Fujita and Takashi Kato
   Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 56, 14085-14089 (2017).
3. Mechanoresponsive Liquid Crystals Exhibiting Reversible Luminescent Color Changes at Ambient Temperature
   Masato Mitani, Shuhei Ogata, Shogo Yamane, Masafumi Yoshio, Miki Hasegawa, and Takashi Kato
   J. Mater. Chem. C, 4, 2752 (2016).
4. Steric Effects on Excimer Formation for Photoluminescent Smectic Liquid-Crystalline Materials
   Shogo Yamane, Yoshimitsu Sagara, and Takashi Kato
   Chem. Commun., 49, 3839 (2013).
5. Mechanochromic Luminescent Liquid Crystals Based on a Bianthryl Moiety
   Shogo Yamane, Yoshimitsu Sagara, Toshiki Mutai, Koji Araki, and Takashi Kato
   J. Mater. Chem. C, 1, 2648 (2013).
6. Brightly Tricolored Mechanochromic Luminescence from a Single-Luminophore Liquid Crystal: Reversible Writing and Erasing of Images
   Yoshimitsu Sagara and Takashi Kato
   Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 50, 9128 (2011).
7. A Mechanical and Thermal Responsive Luminescent Liquid Crystal Forming a Colourless Film Under Room Light
   Yoshimitsu Sagara, and Takashi Kato
   Supramol. Chem., 23, 310 (2011).
8. A Stimuli-Responsive, Photoluminescent, Anthracene-Based Liquid Crystal: Emission Color Determined by Thermal and Mechanical Process
   Yoshimitsu Sagara, Shogo Yamane, Toshiki Mutai, Koji Araki, and Takashi Kato
   Adv. Funct. Mater., 19, 1869 (2009).
9. A Thermoresponsive Photoluminescent Smectic Liquid Crystal: Change of Photoluminescent Color on the Smectic-Smectic Phase Transition
   Shogo Yamane, Yoshimitsu Sagara, and Takashi Kato
   Chem. Commun., 2009, 3597.
10. Stimuli-Responsive Luminescent Liquid Crystals: Change of Photoluminescent Colors Triggered by a Shear-Induced Phase Transition
    Yoshimitsu Sagara and Takashi Kato
    Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 47, 5175 (2008).
11. Color-Tunable Fluorescent Organogels: Columnar Self-Assembly of Pyrene-Containing Oligo(Glutamic Acid)s
    Yuko Kamikawa and Takashi Kato
    Langmuir, 23, 274 (2007).
12. Dendritic Folate Rosettes as Ion Channels in Lipid Bilayers
    Naomi Sakai, Yuko Kamikawa, Masayuki Nishii, Toru Matsuoka, Takashi Kato, and Stefan Matile
    J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128, 2218 (2006).
13. One-Dimensional Chiral Self-Assembly of Pyrene Derivatives Based on Dendritic Oligopeptides
    Yuko Kamikawa and Takashi Kato
    Org. Lett., 8, 2463 (2006).
14. Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Peptide Derivatives: Oligo(Glutamic Acid)S Forming Hydrogen-Bonded Columns
    Masayuki Nishii, Toru Matsuoka, Yuko Kamikawa, and Takashi Kato
    Org. Biomol. Chem., 3, 875 (2005).
15. Supramolecular Chiral Cubic Phases Formed by Folic Acid Derivatives
    Yuko Kamikawa, Masayuki Nishii, and Takashi Kato
    Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 435, 755 (2005).
16. Self-Assembly of Folic Acid Derivatives: Induction of Supramolecular Chirality by Hierarchical Chiral Structures
    Yuko Kamikawa, Masayuki Nishii, and Takashi Kato
    Chem.-Eur. J., 10, 5942 (2004).
17. Supramolecular Chirality of Thermotropic Liquid-Crystalline Folic-Acid Derivatives
    Toru Matsuoka, Masayuki Nishii, Yuko Kamikawa, Kiyoshi Kanie, Tatsuya Nishimura, Eiji Yashima, Seiji Ujiie, and Takashi Kato
    Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 43, 1969 (2004).
18. Self-Assembly of Thermotropic Liquid-Crystalline Folic Acid Derivatives: Hydrogen-Bonded Complexes Forming Layers and Columns
    Kiyoshi Kanie, Masayuki Nishii, Takayasu Yasuda, Takashi Taki, Seiji Ujiie, and Takashi Kato
    J. Mater. Chem., 11, 2875 (2001).
19. Thermotropic Liquid-Crystalline Folic Acid Derivatives: Supramolecular Discotic and Smectic Aggregation
    Kiyoshi Kanie, Takayasu Yasuda, Seiji Ujiie, and Takashi Kato
    Chem. Commun., 2000, 1899.
20. Use of Intermolecular Hydrogen Bonding between Imidazolyl Moieties and Carboxylic Acids for the Supramolecular Self-Association of Liquid-Crystalline Side-Chain Polymers and Networks
    Taihei Kawakami and Takashi Kato
    Macromolecules, 31, 4475 (1998).
21. Self-Assembly of a Mesogenic Polyamide. Induction and Significant Stabilization of a Liquid-Crystalline Phase through Complexation of a Polymer Backbone Derived from 2 And6-Bis(Amino)Pyridine with a Phenylbenzoic Acid
    Takashi Kato, Yasuo Kubota, Toshiyuki Uryu, and Seiji Ujiie
    Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 36, 1617 (1997).
22. Supramolecular Liquid-Crystalline Side-Chain Polymers Built through a Molecular Recognition Process by Double Hydrogen Bonds
    Takashi Kato, Masahisa Nakano, Tomonori Moteki, Toshiyuki Uryu, and Seiji Ujiie
    Macromolecules, 28, 8875 (1995).
23. Supramolecular Liquid-Crystalline Complexes Exhibiting Room-Temperature Mesophases and Electrooptic Effects - Hydrogen-Bonded Mesogens Derived from Alkylpyridines and Benzoic-Acids
    Takashi Kato, Mitsuo Fukumasa, and Jean M. J. Fréchet
    Chem. Mater., 7, 368 (1995).
24. A Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Network Built by Molecular Self-Assembly through Intermolecular Hydrogen-Bonding
    Takashi Kato, Hideyuki Kihara, Uday Kumar, Toshiyuki Uryu, and Jean M. J. Fréchet
    Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 33, 1644 (1994).
25. Molecular Self-Assembly of Liquid-Crystalline Side-Chain Polymers through Intermolecular Hydrogen-Bonding - Polymeric Complexes Built from a Polyacrylate and Stilbazoles
    Takashi Kato, Hideyuki Kihara, Toshiyuki Uryu, Akira Fujishima, and Jean M. J. Fréchet
    Macromolecules, 25, 6836 (1992).
26. Use of Intermolecular Hydrogen-Bonding for the Induction of Liquid Crystallinity in the Side-Chain of Polysiloxanes
    Uday Kumar, Takashi Kato, and Jean M. J. Fréchet
    J. Am. Chem. Soc., 114, 6630 (1992).
27. Stabilization of a Liquid-Crystalline Phase through Noncovalent Interaction with a Polymer Side-Chain
    Takashi Kato and Jean M. J. Fréchet
    Macromolecules, 22, 3818 (1989).
28. New Approach to Mesophase Stabilization through Hydrogen-Bonding Molecular-Interactions in Binary-Mixtures
    Takashi Kato and Jean M. J. Fréchet
    J. Am. Chem. Soc., 111, 8533 (1989).