Chirality driven mesomorphic behaviour difference: dichiral compounds containing two lactate groups

Four compounds containing two lactate groups and one perfluorocarbon chain are designed and synthesised, whose chirality is tuned by changing the chirality of the lactic acid residues. (R,S)- and (S,R)-2 stereoiosomers exhibit an enantiotropic SmA phase, while (R,R)- and (S,S)-2 stereoisomers exhibit an enantiotropic SmA phase and an enantiotropic SmC_d* one. Therefore, the chirality of the compounds plays an important role in the mesomorphic behaviours of the compounds. The optical activity of these liquid crystals is dominated by the chirality of the lactate group near the core. (R)- and (S)-1 with one lactic acid residue and one perfluorocarbon chain exhibit only an enantiotropic SmA phase.