New 2,2′-Substituted 4,4′-Dimethoxy-6,6′-dimethyl[1,1′-biphenyls], Inducing a Strong Helical Twisting Power in Liquid Crystals

✍ Scribed by Richard Holzwarth; Richard Bartsch; Zoubair Cherkaoui; Guy Solladié

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 157 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0947-6539
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.200400035

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Based on the stabilisation of the molecular motion by the chiral residue, novel optically active biphenylic chiral dopants for nematic liquid crystals were developed. This molecular congestion was obtained by introducing mesogenic residues on the 2,2′‐positions of the chiral biphenyl; this led to a novel molecular architecture that was found to be efficient. The synthesised optically active biphenyls were characterised with very short cholesteric pitches when used as chiral dopants in nematic liquid crystals. The synthesis of the enatiomerically pure biphenyl dopants and their preliminary physicochemical characterisations are described.