THE INFLUENCE OF DOUBLE-BONDS IN THE TERMINAL CHAIN OF 2-RING COMPOUNDS ON THE PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF S(C)ASTERISK MIXTURES

We present the properties of S(C)* mixtures containing new 2-ring 5-n-alkyl-2-(4-n-alkenyloxyphenyl)pyridines and pyrimidines with systematically varying positions and configurations of the double bond Trans configurations at odd positions (counting the number of atoms from the core including the oxygen and the first carbon atom of the double bond) suppress the S(A) phase, increase the S(C)* tilt angle, theta, and the spontaneous polarization, P(S), and lead to long switching times tau. Cis configurations at even positions suppress the nematic phase in favour of smectic phases, decrease theta and P(S), and shorten tau. Other positional configurational combinations strongly reduce the clearing point. Furthermore, our results indicate that the preferred conformation of the alkenyloxy chain consists of alternating cis and trans units.