ABSTRACT: Naturally, subtle variations in the chemical structure of constituent molecules may significantly affect their multiscale spatial arrangements, properties and functions. Deceptively simple spherical assemblies supply an ideal platform to investigate how subtle chemical differences affect hierarchical assembled structures. Here, we report two sets of nano-sized shape amphiphiles, which are constructed by a triphenylene core and six polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane cages at periphery grafted onto it through linkers. The slight differences of these samples are merely several methylene units in their linkers, including several pairs of constituent isomers. These nano-sized shape amphiphiles self-assemble into a variety of unconventional spherical packing structures, which include the F-K σ phase and dodecagonal quasicrystal. Several types of unconventional phase transitions were systematically investigated. We alternate the conventional columnar phases of discotic molecules to unconventional spherical packing phases. These unconventional structures may shed a light into discovering discotic mesogens based materials with new properties and functions.

KEYWORDS:Self-assembly, Frank-Kasper Phase, Quasicrystal, Shape-amphiphile, Constituent Isomer.