Phase transitional behaviour of S-shaped oligomers incorporating biphenylene and cholesterol entities |
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Authors: | Faridah Osman Nobuyuki Maeta Masato M. Ito Chien-Ming Lin Hong-Cheu Lin |
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Affiliation: | 1. Liquid Crystal Research Laboratory, School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Malaysia;2. Faculty of Science &3. Engineering, Soka University, Tokyo, Japan;4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, People’s Republic of China |
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Abstract: | A new series of symmetrical S-shaped oligomers 4,4′-bis[(5-cholesteryloxycarbonylpentyl alkoxy)hexyloxy]biphenyl consisting of outer spacers –(COCH2)n– as well as an inner spacer –(CH2)6– has been synthesised. Their liquid crystalline properties and phase transition temperatures with associated enthalpy changes are recorded. The outer spacers are varied from n = 5–8 to 10 and 11. The compounds with even spacer exhibit enantiotropic phase and oligomers with odd parity display monotropic phase. The oligomers with odd membered n = 5, 7 and 11 exhibit N* and SmC* phases upon cooling. Whilst upon heating, the homologues with even-numbered member n = 6 and 10 show N* phase and upon cooling, both compounds exhibit N* and SmC* phases. However, oligomer with outer spacer n = 8 displays enantiotropic N* and SmC* phases. The temperature range of N* phase for even and odd membered decreased as the outer spacers are increased. The odd–even effect has been found in the I–N* transition temperatures where the odd-parity oligomers exhibit lower values when compared to compounds of an even-parity series. The X-ray diffraction measurements reveal the appearance of SmC* phase that can be associated with the monolayer ordering of these oligomers. |
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Keywords: | Symmetrical S-shaped liquid crystalline properties outer spacers enantiotropic monotropic odd–even effect |
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