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Effect of the linking unit on the twist-bend nematic phase in liquid crystal dimers: a comparative study of two homologous series of methylene- and ether-linked dimers

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posted on 2016-10-04, 06:10 authored by Craig T. Archbold, Jessica L. Andrews, Richard J. Mandle, Stephen J. Cowling, John W. Goodby

Two series of bimesogens with phenyl benzoate mesogenic units were prepared: one series having a heptamethylene spacer and the other a pentamethylene spacer with two ether-linking groups. These materials were prepared to provide experimental backing to the widely held hypothesis that methylene-linked bimesogens are more likely to exhibit the twist-bend nematic mesophase than their ether-linked counterparts. Several of the methylene-linked materials exhibited nematic and NTB mesophases, whereas the analogous ether-linked materials gave only nematic phases albeit with significantly higher clearing points. Virtual N–NTB transition temperatures for both methylene- and ether-linked bimesogens were extrapolated by constructing binary phase diagrams with the well-studied twist-bend material CB9CB. Contrary to our expectations these virtual transition temperatures were in most cases higher for the ether-linked bimesogens than in the analogous methylene compounds, this runs counter to reported theories and hypotheses that the incorporation of ether-linking groups should serve to destabilise the NTB phase.

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