Apolar 2‐alkoxyalkoxy‐substituted nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

The synthesis is reported of a series of apolar nematic liquid crystals incorporating an alkoxyalkoxy chain attached in a terminal position to the molecular core. The dependence of the mesomorphism and phase transition temperatures on the nature of the terminal chain with one, two or three oxygen atoms was studied. Some compounds with a completely alicyclic molecular core and a terminal 2‐methoxyethoxy chain exhibit a nematic phase with a low melting point, birefringence and viscosity and a relatively high clearing point in the absence of smectic phases. They do not to absorb light in the near UV and may be useful as components of UV‐stable nematic mixtures for use in photoluminescent liquid crystal displays. The presence of the methoxyethoxy chain leads to a relatively large dipole moment perpendicular to the molecular long axis.

Acknowledgements

We express our thanks to Qinetiq for funding for a postgraduate studentship (NLC) and to Merck‐NBSC, Southampton, UK, for the supply of some reaction intermediates. We would also like to thank B. Worthington (¹H NMR) and K. Welham (MS) of the University of Hull for spectroscopic measurements. This paper is published with permission of HMSO.