Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol.630, No.1, 87-101, 2016
Synthesis of liquid crystals based on hydrogen-bonding of 4-(Octyloxy)benzoic acid with 4-alkylbenzoic acids
A molecular recognition process has been used to form new mesogenic molecular structures, where intermolecular hydrogen bonding occurs between 4-(octyloxy)benzoic acid (8BAO) and four 4-alkylbenzoic acids (nBAs, n = 2, 5, 6, 7). The synthesis of these complexes has been attained by resorting to mechanochemistry. The resulting materials have been characterized by polarizing optical thermal microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and H-1 NMR relaxometry. All the elements of the series show the formation of a mesophase. For one of the complexes, its electro-optical properties have also been assessed, resulting comparable to those of other widely used liquid crystals.
Keywords:4-Alkylbenzoic acids;hydrogen bonding;liquid crystals;mechanochemistry;4-(octyloxy)benzoic acid