Dimesogenic Compounds with Chiral Tails: Synthesis and Liquid Crystalline Properties of a Homologous Series of α,ω-Bis[4-(4'-(S)-(−)-2-methylbutoxycarbonyl- biphenyl-4-oxycarbonyl)phenoxy]alkanes

A series of new liquid crystalline dimesogenic compounds with chiral tails was synthesized, and their thermal and liquid crystalline properties were studied. The chain length of the central polymethylene spacers (x) was varied from dimethylene (2) to decamethylene (12). These compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, IR and NMR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and cross-polarizing microscopy. All compounds were found to be enantiotropically liquid crystalline, and the values of melting (Tm) and isotropization temperature (Ti) as well as enthalpy change (∆Hi) and entropy change for isotropization (∆Si) decreased in a zig-zag fashion revealing the so-called odd-even effect as x increases. Their mesomorphic properties fall into three categories depending upon x; (a) compounds with x=2 and 4 formed two different mesophases, smectic and cholesteric phases in that order on heating, and vice versa on cooling, (b) compounds with x=3, 7, 8, 10 and 11 reversibly formed only the cholesteric phase, and (c) compounds with x=5, 6, 9 and 12 exhibited only a cholesteric phase on heating, whereas on cooling they formed two different mesophases, cholesteric and smectic phases, sequentially.