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Influence of the spacer length on mesogenic properties of chiral liquid crystal dimers

Liquid crystal (LC) dimers consist of molecules containing two mesogenic units connected by a flexible spacer. This class of materials exhibits interesting phase behavior and the presence of a chiral center in such dimers can have various consequences as chirality may cause a formation of an intrinsic helical structure. [1] It is known that parity and the length of the spacer strongly affect the transitional behavior and molecular bending. [2] Also, recently was discovered the bent-shaped molecules can induce spontaneous chirality in systems composed of achiral molecules. [3] Knowing all of this, it is interesting to investigate the impact of molecular chirality and the influence of the spacer length on chiral LC phases of the bent-shaped dimers. Our research is focused on the development of chiral liquid crystal dimers including phenyl-3- hydroxy propanoate ester moiety as a source of chirality. The difference in mesomorphic behavior by varying the length of the spacer of such chiral dimers will be discussed (Fig. 1).

liquid crystal dimers ; mesophase ; spacer length ; chirality

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