Novel biphenyl-substituted 1,2,4-oxadiazole ferroelectric liquid crystals: synthesis and characterization

One-pot synthesis of 3,5-diaryl substituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles using gem-dibromomethylarenes

1,2,4-Oxadiazole is one of the most promising heterocyclic ring systems in medicinal chemistry. In the present paper, we report the method for an efficient one-pot synthesis of 3,5-diaryl substituted 1,2,4-oxadiazoles using a two-component reaction of gem-dibromomethylarenes with amidoximes in good yields. In this method, gem-dibromomethylarenes are used as benzoic acid equivalents for the efficient synthesis of aryl-substituted 1,2,4-oxadiazoles. It is anticipated that this methodology will have versatile applications in the practical syntheses of various molecules of both medicinal and material chemistry importance.

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals: Synthesis and Thermal Behavior of Optically Active, Three-Ring Schiff Bases and Salicylaldimines

The chiral ferroelectric smectic C (SmC*) phase, characterized by a helical superstructure, has been well exploited in developing high-resolution microdisplays that have been effectively employed in the fabrication of a wide varieties of portable devices. Although, an overwhelming number of optically active (chiral) liquid crystals (LCs) exhibiting a SmC* phase have been designed and synthesized, the search for new systems continues so as to realize mesogens capable of meeting technical necessities and specifications for their end-use. In continuation of our research work in this direction, herein we report the design, synthesis, and thermal behavior of twenty new optically active, three-ring calamitic LCs belonging to four series. The first two series comprise five pairs of enantiomeric Schiff bases whereas the other two series are composed of five pairs of enantiomeric salicylaldimines. In each pair of optical isomers, the configuration of a chiral center in one stereoisomer is opposite to that of the analogous center in the other isomer as they are derived from (3 S)-3,7-dimethyloctyloxy and (3 R)-3,7-dimethyloctyloxy tails. To probe the structure-property correlations in each series, the length of the n-alkoxy tail situated at the other end of the mesogens has been varied from n-octyloxy to n-dodecyloxy. The measurement of optical activity of these chiral mesogens was carried out by recording their specific rotations. As expected, enantiomers rotate plane polarized light in the opposite direction but by the same magnitude. The thermal behavior of the compounds was established by using a combination of optical polarizing microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and powder X-ray diffraction. These complementary techniques demonstrate the existence of the expected, thermodynamically stable, chiral smectic C (SmC*) LC phase besides blue phase I/II (BPI or BPII) and chiral nematic (N*) phase. However, as noted in our previous analogous study, the vast majority of the Schiff bases show an additional metastable, unfamiliar smectic (SmX) phase just below the SmC* phase. Notably, the SmC* phase persists over the temperature range ≈80-115 °C. Two mesogens chosen each from Schiff bases and salicylaldimines were investigated for their electrical switching behavior. The study reveals the ferroelectric switching characteristics of the SmC* phase featuring the spontaneous polarization (P_S ) in the range 69-96 nC cm^-2 . The helical twist sense of the SmC* phase as well as the N* phase formed by a pair of enantiomeric Schiff bases and salicylaldimines has been established with the help of circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic technique. As expected, the SmC* and the N* phase of a pair of enantiomers showed mirror image CD signals. Most importantly, the reversal of helical handedness from left to right and vice versa has been evidenced during the N* to SmC* phase transition, implying that the screw sense of the helical array of the N* phase and the SmC* phase of an enantiomer is opposite.

Thermal and nonlinear optical studies of newly synthesized EDOT based bent-core and hockey-stick like liquid crystals

The synthesis and characterisation of novel bent-core and hockey-stick like liquid crystals from EDOT are reported. All the compounds exhibit an enantiotropic mesophase with a wide temperature range. These mesogens show good photophysical and nonlinear optical properties.

Trinuclear (aminonitrone)ZnII complexes as key intermediates in zinc(ii)-mediated generation of 1,2,4-oxadiazoles from amidoximes and nitriles

Amidoximes react with zinc salts in undried EtOAc furnishing the trinuclear species, where amidoximes are stabilized in the aminonitrone form.