A Natural Progression from Smectic C to Tilted Smectic B Properties in the n-Alkyl 4′-n-Alkoxybiphenyl-4-carboxylates

Recently^1,2 the n-alkyl esters of the 4′-n-heptyloxy- to 4′-n-decyloxy-biphenyl-4-carboxylic acids (inclusive) were prepared. These homologous series all showed a sudden injection of smectic C properties at the n-butyl ester. In the current work, a number of esters of the 4′-n-dodecyloxy-4′-n-tetradecyloxy-, 4′-n-hexadecyloxy-, and 4′-n-octadecyloxy-biphenyl-4-carboxylic acids have been prepared in order to establish the smectic phase sequences at longer, terminal alkoxy chain lengths. It was found that, as the terminal alkoxy chain length was increased there was a natural, smooth progression to esters which exhibit tilted smectic B phases rather than tilted smectic C phases.     

Novel Azoester Compounds with a Lateral Methyl Substituent

Twelve novel homologues with an azo linkage of the series 4-carbethoxy-[3′methyl-4′ (4^″-n-alkoxy benzoyloxy)] azobenzenes have been synthesized. The methyl to n-hexyl homologues exhibit only nematic mesophases, while the n-heptyl to n-tetradecyl homologues exhibit both smectic and nematic mesophases. The n-hexadecyl homologue exhibits only a smectic mesophase. The plot of transition temperatures versus number of carbon atoms in alkoxy chain exhibits an odd-even effect for the nematic-isotropic transitions. The mesogenic behavior of present series is explained by comparing each homolog of the related mesogenic series. The synthesized compounds were characterized by a combination of elemental analysis and standard spectroscopic methods. For the exhibition of mesomorphic property the role of ester and azo linkages has been discussed. The impact of the lateral methyl group on mesomorphism is also discussed.     

Synthesis of 1 - (4-Alkoxy or Alkyl- Benzoyloxy-Phenyl) - 2- (4′- Pentylphenyl) - Ethanes. Influence of the Central Group on the Mesomorphic Properties

An homologous series of mesomorphic compounds, the I-(4-alkoxy or alkyl-benzoyloxyphényl)-2-(4′-pentylphenyl)-ethanes, has been synthesized. The compounds with R = alkyl have low-melting points and wide mesomorphic ranges, for example from 33.5°C to 106.5C. The compounds with R = alkoxy exhibit a smectic polymorphism; for example a compound of this series is successively smectic B, F and C. The influence of the central linkage when the ethane group is replaced by an ester, single bond, ethylene, azomethine, azo, methylenecetone or cetone groups, is discussed.     

Synthesis,Characterization and Mesomorphic Properties of New Rod-like Thiophene Based Liquid Crystals

Two new mesogenic homologous series of Schiff base esters, 2-[4-(4′-n-Alkoxy benzoyloxy) benzylidenamino] 3-cyno thiophine (Series-A) and Schiff base cinnamates, 2-[4-(4′-n-alkoxy cinnamoyloxy) benzylidenamino] 3-cyano thiophene (Series-B), comprising a thiophene moiety were synthesized. Structural elucidation was carried out using elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques such as FT-IR, ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR, and mass spectrometry. The mesomorphic properties and thermal stabilities of the title compounds were studied by using differential scanning calorimetry and optical polarizing microscopy. All the derivatives are mesomorphic in nature showing the nematic phase, and the higher members of Series-A show a smectic C phase whereas Series-B exhibits only the nematic mesophase. The mesomorphic properties of the present series are compared with other structurally related compounds.     

New Mesogenic Compounds Exhibiting a Thermotropic Optically Isotropic Phase

Abstract

The only two series of carboxylic acids, 3-nitro- or 3-cyano-4-alkoxybiphenyl-4′-carboxylic acid, are known to exhibit the optically isotropic phase (S_D). Now we synthesised 4-(branched alkoxy)-anilinebenzylidene-4′-carboxylic acid series, all being racemic, and investigated their mesophase properties by means of DSC, optical microscopy and X-ray measurement. As a result, some branched azomethine derivatives were found to form a S_D phase. We also synthesised cinnamic acid derivatives with branched alkoxy tail that were turned out to exhibit either S_D phase or hexagonal columnar phase. We tried biphenyl or azobenzene core analogues which were found to produce a highly ordered smectic phase or no mesophase, respectively. At this stage, we suppose it plays an important role that the branch is introduced into the terminal chain and a certain dipole moment is located within the mesogenic core. These factors may allow the peculiar molecular packing that causes an optically isotropic property.     

The Liquid Crystal Properties of Some Aromatic Esters Derived From Naphthalene

Abstract The 2,6-naphthylene ring system has been used to replace each of the 1,4-phenylene rings in various 4-substituted-phenyl 4-substituted-benzoates, where the substituents were alkyl and/or alkoxy. For the dialkyl esters, the N-I temperatures were increased by 60–80° compared with the simpler, analogous phenyl benzoates, irrespective of the position of the 2,6-naphthylene ring. For the esters with one alkyl and one alkoxy substituent, the N-I temperatures were again higher than those of the corresponding phenyl benzoates (～60°); S_A properties were quite pronounced in the 6-alkyl-2-naphthyl 4-alkoxybenzoates. When both substituents were alkoxy groups, S_C phases of quite wide thermal range were exhibited, usually preceded on cooling by a nematic and a S_A phase.     

Synthesis of Some Deuterated Aromatic Mesomorphic Compounds Used in Broad-Line 2H-NMR Studies

Twenty-one deuterated mesogens of the following types: HOAB (perdeuterated chains), 4-alkoxybenzoic acids (perdeuterated chain and acid deuteron), 7S5 and 8S5 (perdeuterated alkoxy chain), 4-alkoxybenzylidene-4′-alkylanilines (2 or 4 deuterons in the aniline ring, 2-α-deuterons on the alkyl chain and perdeuterated alkyl or alkoxy chain) and TBBA (perdeuterated alkyl chains or anil deuterons) were prepared for use in broad line ²H-NMR by using standard literature methods. The required 4-alkoxybenzoic acids, aldehydes and anilines with perdeuterated chains were prepared by alkylation of the appropriate 4-substituted phenol. The acid proton in the 4-alkoxybenzoic acids was replaced with a deuteron either by basic hydrolysis of the ester or acid chloride or by base-catalyzed exchange on the acid. Two deuterons were incorporated into the aniline ring ortho to the amino group by exchange in dilute H₂SO₄. Four ring deuterons, two α-chain deuterons or a perdeuterated chain were incorporated into 4-alkylanilines by the following sequence of steps: Friedel-Crafts acylation of benzene with an acid chloride, catalytic reduction, Friedel-Crafts acylation with oxalyl chloride, hydrolysis in base and a Schmidt rearrangement in H₂SO₄. New deuteration equipment was designed for the catalytic reduction using deuterium. IR, NMR and MS were used to determine the deuterium content in these compounds. Small differences in mesophase transition temperatures were observed for mesogens containing perdeuterated alkyl or alkoxy chains.     

Synthesis and Mesomorphic Properties of the Homologous Series of Di-(4′- n-alkylphenyl)- trans-cyclohexane-1,4-dicarboxylates

The homologous series of di-(4′- n-alkylphenyl)- trans-cyclohexane-1,4-dicarboxylates in which the alkyl group is C₁-C₁₂ has been prepared by esterification of trans-1,4-cyclo-hexanedicarboxylic acid or dicarbonyl chloride with 4-alkylphenols. Mesomorphic properties and phase transitions as determined by hot-stage polarizing microscopy and DSC are discussed in relationship to various structural features. Comparisons of these properties with those for the corresponding alkoxy series and the analogous terephthalic acid diesters are also presented and discussed.     

Biphenylbenzoates: Synthesis and Thermodynamic Properties

Two homologous series of twelve compounds each of biphenylbenzoates have been synthesised and their mesomorphic properties characterised. Heats of transition for both series of compounds have also been measured using differential scanning calorimetry. In the biphenyl 4-p-n-alkoxybenzoate series the first few members are monotropic nematic and the higher ones exhibit enantiotropic nematic as well as smectic phases, whereas in the biphenyl 4-p-n-alkyl benzoate series only the monotropic nematic phase is observed. In both series of compounds the plot of the nematic-isotropic transition temperature against the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain exhibit smooth curve relationships.     

Properties of liquid crystals and Cu2+ recognition based on Schiff bases

Two series of new Schiff base compounds were synthesized. For Schiff base compounds with a pyridine nitrogen atom in 4-position (7a–e), their supramolecular hydrogen bonding complexes show good liquid crystal properties. However, no liquid crystal property is observed for 8a–e. Results of theoretical calculations demonstrate that it is the intermolecular hydrogen bond of Schiff base compounds (8a–e) that prevents the formation of supramolecular hydrogen bonding. The Schiff base compounds, with terminal alkoxy chains, can recognize Cu²⁺ selectively with a color change. Nevertheless, others cannot recognize Cu²⁺.     

Study of Y-shaped liquid crystalline materials with polar nitro substituent

A new homologous series of Y-shaped liquid crystals namely 4-Nitro-[2′4′bis (4″-n-alkoxybenzoyloxy)] phenyl bisazobenzenes have been synthesized and its thermotropic properties studied on the hot stage of a polarizing microscope. The compounds consist four phenyl rings joined through ester and bisazo linkages with alkoxy and nitro as terminal substituents. The structures of synthesized compounds were confirmed by spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR, ¹HNMR as well as elemental analysis. The compounds were found to exhibit enantiotropic nematic and smectic mesophases. The role of molecular shape, size and polarity of functional groups in the mesophases formation is discussed.     

Mesomorphic Behavior of Some New Fluorene Compounds

Several new fluorene derivatives have been synthesized and their liquid crystalline polymorphic behavior examined. Specifically, 2-fluorenylmethylidene-4′-n-alkylanilines with different alkyl groups are compared with corresponding compounds wherein the alkyl groups have been replaced either by the alkoxy or other different groups. In addition, some of the 4-alkyl and alkoxybenzylidene-2-aminofluorenes have also been prepared for comparison. Many of these compounds show not only the nematic phase but also two smectic phases. The presence of a lateral substituent in analogous compounds decreases the nematic-isotropic transition by about 60[ddot]C.     

Mesophase design: I. Molecular structure and crystal packing motifs of 4-alkylcyanobiphenyls

A comparative study of the crystal and molecular structures of 4-alkylcyanobiphenyls (ACB-n) C _n H_{2n + 1}-C₆H₄-C₆H₄-CN (n = 2, 4–12) belonging to liquid-crystal compounds revealed no direct relationship between the molecular geometry of these compounds and their liquid-crystalline properties. Mesogenic properties are determined by the alternation of the loosely packed aliphatic and closely packed aromatic regions in the crystals. Graphs describing the crystals and mesophases were designed for ACB-n. The graph for nematic mesogens of ACB-n (n = 5−7) has one structure-forming element. The graph for smectic-nematic (n = 8 and 9) and smectic (n = 10−12) mesogens have more than one structure-forming element. If different types of secondary bonds in the smectic mesophase have equal energies, the disruption of these interactions caused by the temperature rise occurs simultaneously and the system undergoes a transition from the smectic phase to the isotropic liquid. If the energies of different types of secondary bonds are different, the destruction of the mesophase occurs in steps and the phase transitions are more complicated (smectic-nematic-isotropic transitions).     

Mesomorphic Properties of a Homologous series of Substituted Benzoyloxybenzoates

A homologous series of twelve 4-cyanophenyl-3-methyl-4-(4-n-alkylbenzoyloxy) benzoates have been prepared and their mesomorphic properties characterised. All these compounds are colourless, stable and have large positive dielectric anisotropy. The first ten homologues are purely nematic and have a wide thermal range. The undecyloxy and dodecyloxy derivatives exhibit a smectic phase in addition to the nematic phase. A plot of the nematic-isotropic transition temperatures against the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain shows the usual odd-even effect.     

Mesomorphic Properties of an Homologous Series of Alkoxy-Terminated Enamine-Ketone Containing Liquid Crystals

An homologous series of enamine-ketone compounds has been synthesized and their thermal properties investigated. The bis [3- p-n-alkoxyanilino)-2-butenoyl] benzenes exhibited nematic mesophases when the terminal alkoxy substituents were short and both nematic and smectic mesophases when the terminal alkoxy substituents contained twelve or more carbons. The thermal data indicate that although crystalline order is largely determined by the packing of the hydrocarbon tails, there is a low degree of interaction by the tails in the nematic mesophase.     

Bifurcated-tail chiral fluorinated organosiloxane liquid crystalline materials

Abstract

The synthesis and characterization of a series of chiral fluorinated low molar mass (bifurcated tail) organosiloxane materials is presented. The mesogenic moiety is similar to that in the TSiKN65F mesogen reported by Naciri et al., which displays a de Vries-type S_A^* phase. The one parameter varied across the series reported herein is the length of the alkyl chain linking the mesogen moiety to the bifurcated siloxane tail.     

Liquid Crystals Posessing 1,2,4-Trisubstituted Benzene Derivatives

Abstract

The present work deals with synthesis of two homologous series possessing ester and amide linkage and a large lateral aryl substituent. The large lateral group is attached to the main molecule through an amide linkage. Mesogenic amides are rare even when the amide linkage is present in the main molecular framework. However, in the present work the compounds containing amide linkage in lateral moiety also exhibit mesophases of high thermal stability.     

Synthesis and characterization of some novel liquid crystalline compounds of 1,3,4-oxadiazoline and their hydrazone derivatives

Three new series of mesogens have been synthesized by fixing 4-methoxy or 4-butoxy substituted phenyl ring in one side and 4-hydroxy, bromo or amino substituted phenyl group in the other side with different central linkage. The molecular structure of these series was confirmed by elemental analysis and FTIR and ¹HNMR spectroscopy. The mesomorphic properties were studied by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical polarizing microscopy (OPM). All the compounds of series [I] exhibit enantiotropic smectic B (SmB) phase. All the compounds of series [II] and [III] display SmB and nematic (N) phases. The mesomorphic properties were found to be dependent on the two terminal 4-substituted phenyl groups and the central linkage group.     

Synthesis,characterization of new carboxylic acid derivatives bearing 1,3,4-thiadiazole moiety and study their liquid crystalline behaviors

Thirteen carboxylic acid derivatives containing 1,3,4-thiadiazole ring in their core and swinging alkoxy terminal were synthesized. They were characterized by ¹H, ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, FTIR, and mass spectrometry. Their liquid crystalline behaviors have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy (POM). The 1,3,4-thiadiazole compounds in this study were 2,5 di-substituted asymmetrical, alkoxy, and carboxy linkages. The compounds with alkoxy of long carbon chains (n > 7) displayed Smectic C phase. The liquid crystal properties were found to be affected by the length of alkoxy chain attached to the phenyl moiety and the two types of the dimeric form were resulted from the hydrogen bonding interaction between carboxylic acid molecules.     

Multirings Aromatic Aldehyde Liquid Crystal with Azo Linkage and Their Photosensitivity in Mesophase

Ten new rod-like aromatic aldehyde liquid crystalline molecules with azo linkage were synthesized, in which bi(trans-cyclohexyl), cyclohexyl phenyl, and biphenyl carboxylic acid mesogenic cores with terminal ethyl, n-propyl, n-butyl, and n-pentyl substituents were esterified with azo benzoic aldehyde. These molecules were designed in an attempt to construct a series of new azo liquid crystalline molecules to investigate the influence of ultraviolet (UV) light on their mesophase. All compounds have been characterized on the basis of their spectral data, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and hot stage polarizing optical microscope (HS-POM). All these compounds exhibited liquid crystalline phase that belonged to nematic and photosensitive properties. Their temperature ranges of mesophase are from 101 °C to 150 °C. Under irradiated 365 nm UV light, they showed photosensitivity in the solvent of methanol. Observed under HS-POM, the UV light also did change the textures of these compounds. The result showed that terminal ethyl is enough for these molecules to exhibit wider temperature range of mesophase, and these new molecules have photosensitivities observed under illumination of UV light not only in solution but also in mesophase due to the change of their structures from trans isomer to cis one.