Liquid crystal dimers

Abstract

Liquid crystal dimers serve as useful model compounds for the semi-flexible main chain liquid crystal polymers. The mesophases of more complex polymeric systems can be comprehended through the study of the properties of liquid crystal dimers. In addition, the liquid crystal dimers are of significant interest in their own right. This paper presents a brief review on the structure-property relationships and the recent progress in different types of liquid crystal dimers: symmetric and non-symmetric calamitic liquid crystal dimers (linear shape, H shape, U shape and T shape), discotic liquid crystal dimers (symmetric discotic-discotic, non-symmetric discotic-calamitic liquid crystal dimers) and banana-shaped liquid crystal dimers (symmetric banana-banana shaped, non-symmetric calamitic-banana shaped liquid crystal dimers), which might be the guidance for designing novel liquid crystal dimers.