Polar Switching and Cybotactic Nematic Ordering in 1,3,4-Thiadiazole-Based Short-Core Hockey Stick-Shaped Fluorescent Liquid Crystals.

We report here the synthesis and thermotropic properties of novel short-core hockey stick-shaped liquid crystalline molecules based on the 1,3,4-thiadiazole core. Polar switching behavior is observed in the cybotactic nematic and smectic mesophases for the bent-core thiadiazole derivatives. The presence of the lateral methoxy moiety in the outer phenyl ring of the four-ring molecules facilitates the formation of spontaneous ordering in the nematic phase observed via X-ray diffraction measurements.