Developments in liquid-crystalline dimers and oligomers

Liquid-crystalline dimers and bimesogens have attracted much attention due to their propensity to exhibit the spontaneously chiral twist-bend mesophase (NTB), most often by dimers with methylene spacers. Despite their relative ease of synthesis, the number of ether-linked twist-bend materials significantly lags behind those of methylene-linked compounds. In this work, we have prepared and studied a range of ether-linked bimesogens homologous in structure to the FFO9OCB; as with methylene-linked systems, it appears that it is molecular topology and the gross molecular shape that are the primary drivers for the formation of this phase of matter. Dimers and bimesogens are well studied within the context of the twist-bend phase; however, present understanding of this mesophase in oligomeric systems lags far behind. We report our recent efforts to prepare further examples of oligomeric twist-bend nematogens, including further examples of our ‘n+1’ methodology, which may allow the synthesis of high-purity, monodisperse materials of any given length to be prepared. We have observed that there is a tendency for these materials to exhibit highly ordered soft-crystalline mesophases as opposed to the twist-bend phase.