Pseudo-rodlike molecules with hockey-stick-shaped mesogen

ABSTRACT

Hockey-stick-shaped molecules were newly synthesised to obtain pseudo-rodlike molecules. The designed molecules consist of a polar terminal ring (i.e. 2,3,4-, 2,4,6- or 3,4,5-trifluorophenyl group), a rigid middle block (i.e. four rings with aligned ester linkages) and a flexible terminal chain (i.e. dodecyloxy group). We found that the compounds with 2,3,4- and 3,4,5-trifluorophenyl groups formed a smectic A mesophase with head-to-head bi-layer building blocks, whereas the compound with 2,4,6-trifluorophenyl group formed a nematic mesophase. This might be concerned with the behaviour of pseudo-rodlike molecules

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Bent-core liquid crystal
• hockey-stick-shaped mesogen
• synthesis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program [No. NRF-2013R1A1A2012471] through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. K.-U. Jeong appreciates the support from Research Base Construction Fund Program of CBNU.