Study of Tails in Smectic Liquid Crystals. I. The Effect of Fluorocarbon/Hydrocarbon Ether Tails on Phenyl Ester Biphenyl Cores

Abstract

Abstract The use of the mixed fluorocarbon/hydrocarbon ether sequence [1H,1H,5H-octafluoro-1-pentoxy-]ethoxy in place of aliphatic or aliphatic ether sequences significantly enhances the temperature range of the chiral smectic C (Sc*) liquid crystalline phase. Considerations derived from the literature, supported by computer modeling, suggested that stabilization of the Sc* phase results from enhancement of the population of gauche conformers. These considerations have led to liquid crystal molecules with the widest range of Sc* phase thus far reported.