Smectic phases of liquid crystals based on dinuclear palladium(II) complexes with carboxylato bridge

In this paper we present the preparation and the investigation of the liquid crystal properties of a series of dinuclear carboxylato bridge Pd(II) complexes bearing six alkoxy peripheral chains in the molecule. Their structures were assigned based on elemental analysis, IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy whereas the thermal behaviour was investigated by polarizing optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The monotropic smectic A phase displayed by these materials was identified by miscibility studies with a previously reported mesogen. It was found that the transition temperatures and the SmA mesophase stability depend on the alkyl chain length of the carboxylato bridge. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)