Two-fold Helical Inversion in the Chiral SmC Phase of Optically Active Materials Derived from (R)-(+)-1-(1-Phenyl)ethylamine

Abstract

The transfer of chirality from molecules to an anisotropic liquid crystal phase has been a subject of significant interest. A typical example is the spontaneous formation of helical structures in chiral nematic and chiral SmC* phases. One of the most interesting chiral effects in these helical liquid crystal systems is the helical inversion arising from the sensitivity of the chirality to temperature variation. In this study we found a distinct 2-fold helical inversion in the chiral SmC* phase of materials with single chiral centers, in which the chiral phenylethylamine is introduced to the end of the mesogens through the imine linkage and the alkyl tail is attached to the other end. As far as we know, this is the first example of 2-fold helical inversion in a single-component system.