SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF FERROELECTRIC LIQUID-CRYSTALS WITH A FLUORINATED ASYMMETRIC FRAME

In order to prepare new types of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLC) with a large spontaneous polarization and a short response time toward electric field, optically active compounds possessing a fluorinated asymmetric frame were synthesized utilizing optically active 2-fluoroalkanols prepared from R-(+)-1,2-epoxyalkanes, or 1,1,1-trifluoro-2-octanol and 3-trifluoromethylalkanoic acids prepared by the optical resolution of their race-mates. The liquid crystals prepared from the above mentioned fluorinated compounds exhibited such remarkable FLC characteristics as a wide temperature range of the S(c)* phase, a large spontaneous polarization, and a short response time. We now wish to describe the synthetic procedures and the mesomorphic properties of these new types of FLC.