Highly Elastic Liquid Crystals with a Sub‐nanonewton Bending Elastic Constant Mediated by the Resident Molecular Assemblies

Abstract

A surprisingly high bending elastic constant (K33 ) is obtained in a newly synthesized compound shown here. Mixtures containing a few percent of this compound confirm the influence of the unusual K33 values, and show an improved electro-optic response. The origin of the huge K33 is discussed based on the formation of a smectic cluster structure formed in the nematic phase.