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ABSTRACT
In the current study, two new unsymmetrical liquid crystalline homologous series of dimers with a rigid biphenyl core were synthesised using an ether-linking group. Several spectroscopic methods, including FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, elemental analysis and mass spectrometry, were used to describe the synthesized dimers. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarised optical microscopy (POM) were used to assess their mesomorphic properties. The results showed that the number of methylene spacers significantly affected the thermal properties of the synthesized dimers. To ascertain photophysical behaviour, UV–Visible spectroscopy was employed. Nematic-type mesophase patterns with good mesophase range and thermal stability were seen in both series. Dimers with flexible spacers (n = 2, 4, 6) had the best liquid crystalline nature out of all the dimers. The relationships between structure and its mesogenic property, the effects of various flexible spacers, the mesophase ranges, and the photo-isomerization of liquid crystalline dimers were all investigated. DFT Studies were carried out to gain a better understanding of structural features.
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Acknowledgments
One of the authors (MR) is thankful to SHODH-Scheme of Developing High-Quality Research, Education Department, Gujarat State (KCG/SHODH/2022-23/202001720019). Authors (AKP & MR) are also thankful to The Head, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The M. S. University of Baroda for providing laboratory facilities, DST-FIST for providing NMR, POM, DSC and ESI-MS analyses facilities.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary data
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2023.2264793.