A series of fluorinated liquid crystals with an alanine residue

ABSTRACT

A series of fluorinated compounds with an L-alanine residue are synthesised. Both enantiotropic SmA and SmC* phases were identified. The clearing points decreased with increasing the alkoxy chain length. The intramolecular hydrogen bond was proposed to decrease the melting points of them and broaden the temperature ranges of the mesophases. The optical purity also played an important role in the thermostability of the mesophases. The compounds derived from L-butyrine and L-norvaline also show SmA and SmC* phases. The clearing point decreases with increasing the alkyl chain length of the amino acid residue.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Alanine
• liquid crystal
• chiral
• hydrogen bonding

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Political Science-preponderant Discipline of Jiangsu Province, the Project of Scientific and Technologic Infrastructure of Suzhou [SZS201905] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Nos. 51473106 and 51673141].