A novel. series of banana-shaped compounds with the following molecular structure has been synthesized and characterized. [GRAPHICS] All the compounds synthesized in this series are found to be liquid crystalline forming a B-1 phase, which has recently been designated as a columnar phase. the liquid crystalline behaviour of these compounds has been investigated by using the polarizing optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray studies. the lower homologues of this series are monotropic whereas the higher ones are enantiotropic. we found that introduction of the nitro functional groups affects the mesomorphic properties in comparison to their respective unsubstituted compounds. the lower homologues of the unsubstituted ones exhibit a B-1 phase whereas the higher ones a B-2 phase.