Additive Partial Chiral Properties of a Thermotropic Liquid Crystal with Two Chiral Centers

Abstract

Temperature dependent measurements of the pitch of the cholesteric phase and the spontaneous polarization of the smectic Cast; phase are presented for five configurations of a thermotropic liquid crystal with two chiral centers. The temperature dependent chiral properties of the two diastereoisomers (S,S)-M96 and (S,R)-M96 are additively composed by the partial contributions of the individual chiral centers, determined from the partially racemic configurations. Mixtures of the diastereoisomers exhibit a mole fraction weighted additivity of the chiral properties.

Key Words:

• Smectic C*
• chirality, diastereoisomers
• spontaneous polarization
• cholesteric pitch.