Abstract
Liquid crystal is an intermediate phase between the crystalline solid and an isotropic liquid, a very common substance in our daily lives. Two major classes of liquid crystal are lyotropic, where a liquid crystal is dissolved in a specific solvent under a particular concentration and thermotropic, which can be observed under temperature difference. This review aims to understand how a structure of a certain azo compound might influence the liquid crystal properties. A few factors influence the formation of different liquid crystals: the length of the alkyl terminal chain, inter/intra-molecular interaction, presence of spacer, spacer length, polarization effects, odd-even effects, and the presence of an electron-withdrawing group or an electron-donating group. As final observations, we show the compound’s different factors, the other liquid crystal is exhibited, and the structure–property relationship is explained. Liquid crystal technology is an ideal system to be applied to products to maximize their use, especially in the electronic and medical areas.
Highlights
Azo compounds represent a large branch of the liquid crystal sciences
According to Stegemeyer (1989), it was first discovered by Dr Friedrich Reinitzer back in 1888 in a German University located in Prague, where he revealed two crucial traits of the cholesteric liquid crystal, which are the change of color with temperature and the temperature range of the cholesteric phase, and the melting point and clearing point [8,9]
A different smectic phase is formed as the molecular order of the smectic phase change, which is Smectic A (SmA), Smectic B (SmB), Smectic C (SmC), Smectic F (SmF), and Smectic I (SmI)
Summary
Azo compounds represent a large branch of the liquid crystal sciences. The azo compound is a compound that contains two or more organic groups, which an azo group separates by –N=N– as its linking unit [1,2]. A nematic phase is the simplest liquid crystal where the molecules are positioned in a long axis across the same preferred direction [12] This means that the rod-like molecules are arranged in a plane parallelly. A different smectic phase is formed as the molecular order of the smectic phase change, which is Smectic A (SmA), Smectic B (SmB), Smectic C (SmC), Smectic F (SmF), and Smectic I (SmI) These smectic are sub-divided into two categories depending on whether the molecules are tilted to the layer normal or not. These mesogen is formed when each molecule does not have a long-range positional order [15]. This review will help future researchers to understand the phase properties and the characterization of azo-based compounds
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