Polarizability anisotropies of cyano-substituted azulene,biphenyl, 2,2'- bipyridyl and naphthalene

The conformations of a number of cyano-substituted aromatic model mesogens with actual or potential application in liquid crystals have been obtained using density functional B-LYP/6-311G(d) methodology. Dipole polarizability tensors have been computed at Hartree-Fock and B3-LYP levels of theory using Spackman's recommended basis sets, in order to obtain polarizability anisotropies, and to compare them with those of the parent compounds. The results indicate that 6-cyanoazulene is a potentially important mesogenic component, having a polarizability anisotropy not much less than 4-cyano-2,2'-bipyridyl. Electric dipole transition moments and oscillator strengths to the lowest singlet and triplet excited states have also been estimated for the cyanoazulenes, using a Configuration-Interaction Singles CIS/6-311G(d) approximation.