Diazo liquid crystals for potential infrared applications

Abstract

Nine series of liquid crystals containing an electron-donating group at one end of a conjugated system and an electron-withdrawing group at the other end have been synthesized. The electron-donating group is 4-n-alkylpiperazine and the electron-withdrawing group is the nitro group; and the conjugated system is diphenyldiazene with zero, one or two substituents on the phenyl ring not containing the nitro group. The substituents are-F,-Cl, and-CH₃. Most of the compounds synthesized are nematogenic and exhibit rather broad liquid crystalline ranges. The effects of the lateral substituents on the optical absorption and phase transition temperatures are correlated with their nature and position of substitution. Dielectric anisotropy and birefringence measurements were made using mixtures containing 10 wt % of synthesized liquid crystals dissolved in commercial mixture E7.