Non-Linear Optical Activity of Chiral Bipyrimidine-Based Thin Films.

An original series of bipyrimidine-based chromophores featuring alkoxystyryl donor groups bearing short chiral (S)-2-methylbutyl chains in positions 4, 3,4 and 3,5, connected to electron-accepting 2,2-bipyrimidine rings, has been developed. Their linear and non-linear optical properties were studied using a variety of techniques, including one- and two-photon absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence measurements, as well as Hyper-Rayleigh scattering to determine the first hyperpolarizabilities. Their electronic and geometrical properties were rationalized by TD-DFT calculations.

Synthesis and characterization of novel 4-benzyloxyphenyl 4-[4-(n-dodecyloxy)benzoyloxy]benzoate liquid crystal.

Liquid crystal (LC) compound 4-Benzyloxyphenyl 4-[4-( -dodecyloxy)benzoyloxy]benzoate (BDBB) was prepared and characterized. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was to be a beneficial analysis method for the research of thermodynamic characteristics of the new LC. Acetate and alcohol isomers were used to examine LC selectivity via the IGC technique at temperatures between 333.

Effects of molecular chirality on self-assembly and switching in liquid crystals at the cross-over between rod-like and bent shapes.

A bent-core compound derived from a 4-cyanoresorcinol core unit with two terephthalate based rod-like wings and carrying chiral 3,7-dimethyloctyloxy side chains has been synthesized in racemic and enantiomerically pure form and characterized by polarizing microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and electro-optical investigations to study the influence of molecular chirality on the superstructural chirality and polar order in lamellar liquid crystalline phases. Herein we demonstrate that the coupling of molecular chirality with superstructural layer chirality in SmCsPF domain phases (forming energetically distinct diastereomeric pairs) can fix the tilt direction and thus stabilize synpolar order, leading to bistable ferroelectric switching in the SmC* phases of the (S)-enantiomer, whereas tristable modes determine the switching of the racemate. Moreover, the mechanism of electric field induced molecular reorganization changes from a rotation around the molecular long axis in the racemate to a rotation on the tilt-cone for the (S)-enantiomer.

Unusual Electro-Optic Kerr Response in a Self-Stabilized Amorphous Blue Phase with Nanoscale Smectic Clusters.

We investigated the electro-optic response in the "foggy" amorphous blue phase (BPIII) as well as in the isotropic phase. To the best of our knowledge, such a study has not yet been performed due to the very limited thermal range of BPIII. In this study, we used a single-component chiral bent-core liquid crystal with a self-stabilized BPIII, which is stable over a wide temperature range.

Twist grain boundary (TGB) states of chiral liquid crystalline bent-core mesogens.

4-Cyanoresorcinol derived bent-core molecules with a chiral (S)-2-methylbutoxy chain form liquid crystalline phases with TGBA- and TGBC-like structures at the transition from cybotactic nematic via SmA to SmC phases.