Liquid crystals based on axially fluorinated 1,3-dioxanes: Synthesis, properties and computational study

Abstract

A new class of liquid crystals with strongly negative dielectric anisotropy has been prepared by the exploitation of the somewhat "ambivalent" characteristics of the 1,3-dioxane structure with respect to its polarity and by the axial fluorination of this structure, which gives these compounds attractive mesogenic and electrooptic properties. The increased chemical stability of these materials compared with their carbocyclic analogues has been analyzed and explained by molecular modelling. © Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2006.