Achiral host materials, ferroelectric mixtures

Figure 39. Achiral host materials for ferroelectric liquid mixtures.

The synthesis of the first achiral host material that exhibits a smectic Cau phase [36] (achiral version of the antiferroelectric phase) is shown in Fig. 42. It can be seen that this material has three aromatic rings and two ester groups, but in addition it has a swallow-tail unit. This unit (for no apparent reason at the moment) stabilizes the formation of smectic Cai, phases. The material like a ferroelectric host can be doped with a chiral dopant to give an antiferroelectric mixture. 

Ferroelectric host systems are mixtures composed of materials that are achiral, and when blended together they exhibit a nematic-smectic A-smectic C phase sequence for the purposes of ease of alignment with the smectic C phase being available over a temperature range that includes room tem-... 

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