Experimental investigation of phase transitions exhibited by symmetric liquid crystal dimers

Abstract

As a part of our systematic study of phase transitions in liquid crystal dimers we report here the variation of density across the phase transitions Isotropic – Smectic A and Smectic A – Smectic F exhibited by the Schiff base liquid crystal dimeric compounds of α,ω-bis(4-alkylanilinebenzylidene-4′-oxy)alkane (m.OnO.m) homologous series. The compounds studied are 6.O5O.6 and 6.O6O.6. The compound 6.O5O.6 exhibits only Smectic A phase, whereas the compound 6.O6O.6 exhibits Smectic A and Smectic F phases. The density jumps and peak in thermal expansion coefficient at the transitions confirm the first order nature of the transitions with a smaller density jumps compared to the monomeric liquid crystals. The calculated pressure dependance of the transition temperatures using Clauasius- Clapeyron equation is also reported. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)