Laterally connected bent-core dimers and bent-core-rod couples with nematic liquid crystalline phases

First examples of laterally connected bent-core dimesogens and liquid crystalline dimesogens involving bent-core units and rod-like units are reported. Four distinct types of dimesogens have been synthesized and investigated by polarizing microscopy (PM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. Two of them combine two bent-core mesogens derived from 4-cyanoresorcinol either in a lateral-lateral or lateral-terminal topology, the other two types combine a 4-cyanoresorcinol based bent-core mesogen with a rod-like mesogen in a lateral-lateral or lateral-terminal manner. All compounds, except one, exhibit nematic phases composed of SmC-type cybotactic clusters (N-cybC) with wide phase ranges and low crystallization temperatures. Two compounds show additional low temperature phases, an SmC phase and a rectangular columnar phase were observed.