Effect of alkoxy-chain length proportionation on the mesophase behaviour of terminally di-substituted phenylazo phenyl benzoates

A series of 4-alkoxyphenylazo-4′-phenyl-4′′-alkoxybenzoates bearing two terminal alkoxy groups (I m + n), where m and n denote the number of carbon atoms in the alkoxy groups attached to the phenylazo and benzoate moieties, respectively, was synthesised, and the molecular structures were established via elemental analyses, IR, NMR and mass spectroscopy. First, the thermal transitions and mesophase characteristics of any two isomeric molecules, having the same molecular length but with differently proportionated alkoxy groups, were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and polarised-light microscopy. All compounds investigated proved to have a wide smectic C and nematic liquid crystalline ranges, except for the lower homologous (I 6 + 8 and I 8 + 6) where they are purely nematogenic. Mesophases were confirmed by the miscibility method, using dodecyloxybenzoic acid as the mesophase reference. Second, the mesophase behaviours of binary mixtures of isomeric compounds, bearing the same total alkoxy-chain length (m + n) but differ in the individual values of m and n, were studied and discussed. It was found that the smectic C and nematic phases behaved ideally in their binary mixture with the 4-alkoxy benzoic acid, independent of either n or m.