10.1002/asia.201600918
The research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of sixteen optically active, non-symmetric liquid crystal dimers and their binary mixtures. The dimers were created by interlinking cyanobiphenyl and salicylaldimine mesogens with a flexible spacer, varying the number of methylene units from 3 to 10 to form eight pairs of (R & S) enantiomers. Key chemicals involved in the synthesis include 4-hydroxy-4-cyanobiphenyl, a,w-dibromoalkanes, 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, (R)- and (S)-2-octanol, and 4-nitrophenol. The study utilized various techniques such as polarizing optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) to investigate the thermal properties and phase transitions of these dimers. The research revealed a variety of mesophases, including chiral nematic (N*), twist grain boundary (TGB), blue phases (BPs), and biaxial smectic A (SmAb) phases, with notable occurrences of re-entrant phases and interdigitated or intercalated smectic structures. The findings provide insights into the structure–property correlations in chiral liquid crystal systems and contribute to the development of novel materials with unique optical and structural properties.