Here we report the chemical induction of the twist-bend nematic phase in a nematic mixture of ether-linked liquid crystal dimers by the addition of a dimer with methylene links; all dimers have an odd number of groups in the spacer connecting the two mesogenic groups. The twist-bend phase has been identified from its optical texture and x-ray scattering pattern as well as NMR spectroscopy, which demonstrates the phase chirality. Theory predicts that the key macroscopic property required for the stability of this chiral phase formed from achiral molecules is for the bend elastic constant to tend to be negative; in addition the twist elastic constant should be smaller than half the splay elastic constant. To test these important aspects of the prediction we have measured the bend and splay elastic constants in the nematic phase preceding the twist-bend nematic using the classic Frederiks methodology and all three elastic constants employing the dynamic light scattering approach. Our results show that, unlike the splay, the bend elastic constant is small and decreases significantly as the transition to the induced twist-bend nematic phase is approached, but then exhibits unexpected behavior prior to the phase transition.

No abstract

A large number of new liquid crystals incorporating the 2,5-disubstituted thiophene ring have been prepared and their mesomorphic behaviour studied in order to systematically investigate the correlation between the molecular structure and mesomorphism of thiophene derivatives with different shapes, polarisability and polarity. As a consequence of these investigations we have prepared a new class of liquid crystals incorporating a 2,5-disubstituted thiophene ring and a conjugated trans-carbon-carbon double bond in the terminal chain. These novel thiophene derivatives are the first liquid crystals incorporating a 2,5-disubstituted thiophene ring to exhibit a nematic phase at room temperature. This enables the flexoelectric coefficients of a bent-shaped molecule to be measured directly and at room temperature for the first time to the authors' knowledge. Many of these new thiophenes exhibit a high birefringence and a high nematic clearing point and are of potential use as components of nematic mixtures in LCDs.

We describe the synthesis and characterization of a series of model nematic liquid crystals with transverse dipole moments used to study the flexoelectric effect in guest−host mixtures with commercial liquid crystal host. The flexoelectric coefficicent of the mixtures, containing only 10% by weight of the dopant, are up to 6 times higher than those of the pure hosts. The length, bend angle, and dipole moments of the molecules are systematically varied to investigate any correlations with the flexoelectric effect. We find that the flexoelectric coefficients increase with molecular length, are inversely correlated with the bend angle, and are independent of the dipole moment of the dopant. Although these findings seem to contradict predictions from dipolar flexoelectric theories, they can be reconciled by considering the properties of both the guest and host in the mixture. Thiophenes and dimesogens show particularly large flexoelectric effects. This work should inform the molecular design of new materials with enhanced flexoelectric properties.