Thermotropic liquid crystalline α-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]ω-(4 ′-methoxybiphenyl-4-oxy)alkane hydrochlorides

Abstract

Liquid crystalline α-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]- ω -(4′-methoxybiphenyl-4-oxy)alkane hydrochlorides with different spacer lengths (6, 8, 10 methylene units) have been synthesized and characterized by NMR, DSC, polarizing optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The melting temperatures of the hydrochlorides decrease with increasing number of methylene units in the spacer. Highly ordered and very viscous liquid crystalline (LC1) smectic phases are formed on melting. Upon further heating these phases are transformed into a less viscous smectic C phase (LC2). The temperature of the LC1-LC2 transition decreases and the temperature of the LC2 to isotropic phase transition (LC2-I transition) increases with increasing number of methylene units in the spacer.