The synthesis and investigation of mesomorphic, dielectric, and electro-optic behavior of novel chiral imine-based rod-like liquid crystal

The synthesis and mesomorphic properties of novel chiral imine-based rod-like molecules carrying a ( S )-3,7-Dimethyloctyloxy unit and a n -decyloxy chain at terminals have been reported. Novel molecules, ( S )-5- n -decyloxy-2-[[[4′-(3,7-dimethyloctyloxy)phenyl]imino]methyl]phenol ( 5 ) and ( S )-4- n -decyloxybenzylidene-4′-(3,7-dimethyloctyloxy)aniline ( 6 ), differ from each other by the presence of a lateral hydroxy group on aryl aldehyde. The both structures have been identified by 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, and MS-QTOF. The mesomorphism of molecules have been investigated by optical polarizing microscopy as well as differential scanning calorimetry. The presence of a lateral hydroxy group leads to a notable mesophase stability up to 37 °C in the chiral tilted smectic (SmC*) mesophase interval as compared to imine analog 6 due to intramolecular hydrogen bonding. Therefore, the investigation of dielectric and impedance parameters as well as electro-optic behavior of chiral rod-like compound 5 derived from salicylaldimine-core have been carried out. The real and imaginary dielectric constant, conductivity mechanism, impedance, and dielectric relaxation mechanism of new chiral compound 5 , exhibiting an enantiotropic SmC* mesophase which shows a ferroelectric switching with P S values in the range of 220–100 nC cm −2 , have been investigated in the frequency range between 100 rad/s and 10 6 rad/s at different temperatures altering from 25 to 85 °C.