Ferroelectricity banana phases

The discussion so far has described the observation of three of the four banana-phase diastereomers shown in Figure 8.26 two antiferroelectric isomers from NOBOW, and the ferroelectric banana phase of MHOBOW. Interestingly, discovery of the fourth isomer, the ferroelectric macroscopic... 

This volume of Topics in Stereochemistry could not be complete without hearing about ferroelectric liquid crystals, where chirality is the essential element behind the wide interest in this mesogenic state. In Chapter 8, Walba, a pioneering contributor to this area, provides a historical overview of the earlier key developments in this field and leads us to the discovery of the unique banana phases. This discussion is followed by a view of the most recent results, which involve, among others, the directed design of chiral ferroelectric banana phases, which display spontaneous polar symmetry breaking in a smectic liquid crystal. 

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