Achievement

Dave Davis is studying the influence on mesogenicity of locations of alkoxy tails on a para terphenyl core. All para disposed oligophenyls are liquid crystals, but the influence of meta linkages at the core tail juncture is poorly understood. Terphenyls/ tetraphenyls with para ring core connections were prepared with variation of connectivity of tails. He found that introduction of non-para tail connectivity diminishes mesogenic activity and identification of phase identity is underway. He prepared oligophenyls terminated with 1,3,4-oxadiazoles. Some show LC activity. This complements studies in which core geometry has been modified to make 'bent core" materials which may possess physical properties such as flexoelectricity and (nematic) biaxiality. Materials like this may be used in liquid crystal-based sensing systems. Additional data for compounds whose yields were originally low and physical characterization data is being collected; Dave has begun writing a paper on the results.