Bent LC molecules with a 60° central core that can form B7 and B2 phases (Presentation Recording)

Abstract

We synthesized small-angle bent-core liquid-crystalline (LC) molecules based on a 1,2-bis(phenylethylene) benzene central core, containing seven aromatic rings and alkoxy tails with carbon numbers of 12, 16 and 18. This ortho-bistolane central core offers a 60° bend angle. Irrespective of this unusually small angle, these molecules can form banana smectic phases with a ferroelectric B7-antiferroelectric B2 phase sequence upon cooling as clarified from the micoscopic, X-ray and opto-electric observations. This indicates that despite of the low bend angle of 60°, these are able to be still packed into a layer with the polar bent direction parallel to the layer like ordinal banana molecules. The present result is striking since it had been believed that banana phases can only be stabilized when the bending angle is in the range from 110-140°, providing additional insight into the nature of banana-shaped molecules.