Abstract
A new family of four-ring achiral bent-core compounds derived from 2-methyl 3-amino benzoic acid with the methyl group in the bent direction incorporated into the central core have been designed and synthesised. These compounds possess an alkoxy chain attached at only one end of the bent core molecule, while the other arm consists of a biphenyl moiety possessing a highly polar cyano-group. The molecular structure has been confirmed by elemental analysis and spectroscopic data, and the thermal behaviour and phase characterisation has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and polarising microscopy. All the compounds exhibit a wide-range enantiotropic nematic phase. A comparison with non-mesomorphic unsubstituted and 4-methyl-substituted homologues is also presented.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Professor S. Kumar and Ms. K.N. Vasudha of the Raman Research Institute for the DSC spectra. Financial assistance provided by the Department of Science and Technology to KU and GV (DST Inspire Fellowship) and the University Grants commission, New Delhi, to GM is gratefully acknowledged.