A novel class of materials for ferroelectric liquid crystals containing siloxy chain end groups

Novel liquid crystals containing a siloxy chain as an end tail group instead of an alkyl chain were synthesized. The substitution effects were studied for ferroelectric liquid crystal materials. It was found that the temperature range for the chiral smectic C phase was reduced and shifted to lower temperature in comparison with the analogous alkyl chain derivatives. The crystallinity of the siloxy chain derivatives decreased and cholesteric phases were not observed. The influence of siloxy chains on ferroelectric liquid crystal properties, especially spontaneous polarizations and tilt angles, also greatly depended upon the mesogenic group structure. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the end tail group occupied a larger thickness in the chiral smectic C layer for the siloxy chain derivative than that for the alkyl chain derivative.