Influence Of Multifluorophenyloxy Terminus On The Mesomorphism Of The Alkoxy And Alkyl Cyanobiphenyl Compounds In Search Of New Ambient Nematic Liquid Crystals And Mixtures

A series of cyanobiphenyl (CB) and cyano-p-terphenyl (CT) derivatives containing a variety of highly fluorinated aryloxyl termini and different connecting bridges were efficiently synthesized via aromatic nucleophilic substitution (SNAr) and their mesogenic properties described. Comparison with the non-fluorinated analogues indicates that the terminal multifluoroaryloxy group generally decreases the crystal to nematic phase transistion temperature and enhances the supercooling of these mesogens. Furthermore, several binary LC mixtures formed by the multifluoroaryloxy tail-terminated compounds were found exhibiting promising wide room temperature nematic phases ranges comparable to the commercial quaternary mixture E7. Our binding free energy (G(BE)) calculations predict that the fluorinated aryloxy terminated molecules tend to assume homeotropic orientation on Al(ClO4)(3)and Ni(ClO4)(2)metal salt decorated surfaces, which is consistent with the observed anchoring behavior. As such, these materials are promising candidates for chemoresponsive sensor devices which display a rapid response to a variety of analytes.