Emergence of polar order and tilt in terephthalate based bent-core liquid crystals.
A new bent-core liquid crystalline material consisting of a 4-cyanoresorcinol unit with two terephthalate based rod-like wings and terminated by two short alkyl chains was synthesized. Its liquid crystalline (LC) self-assembly and the development of polar order in the LC phases were investigated. The polar order is characterised using second harmonic generation and dielectric spectroscopy techniques in addition to XRD and DSC characterisations of the mesophase structure and investigation of freely suspended films. We demonstrate the growth of ferroelectric domains in the paraelectric SmA phase (SmAPR), which adopt antipolar correlations (SmAPAR) and eventually condense into a weakly tilted antiferroelectric smectic phase (SmCaPA).
Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany. alexey.eremin@ovgu.de.
Nerea
N
Sebastián
Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany. alexey.eremin@ovgu.de.
Sebastian
S
Belau
Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany. alexey.eremin@ovgu.de.
Alexey
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9743-6895
A
Eremin
Institute of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Str. 2, 06120 Halle/Saale, Germany. carsten.tschierske@chemie.uni-halle.de and Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. malaasar@sci.cu.edu.eg.
Mohamed
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4155-8644
M
Alaasar
Institute of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Str. 2, 06120 Halle/Saale, Germany. carsten.tschierske@chemie.uni-halle.de.
Marko
M
Prehm
Institute of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Str. 2, 06120 Halle/Saale, Germany. carsten.tschierske@chemie.uni-halle.de.
Carsten
C
Tschierske