Low temperature chiral nematic liquid crystals derived from β-methylbutylaniline

Abstract

The synthesis and some basic physical properties of three new liquid crystals are reported. Each of these compounds has been synthesized in both pure chiral and racemic versions. It is demonstrated that a mixture of the chiral and racemic versions of a compound produces a chiral nematic liquid crystal which behaves as a one component system in which the torsion of the helical structure varies linearly with composition, while other thermodynamic properties are independent of composition.