Splay (K-11) and bend (K-33) elastic constants and magnetic susceptibility anisotropies have been determined for four mesogenic compounds with structural formulae Rl-C6H10-COO-C6H4-R2. Two of the compounds, namely, CPPCC (R1=C3H7,R2=CN) and CPBCC (R1=C4149, R2=CN) have terminal cyano groups, while the others are BPPCC (R1=C3H7,R2=OC4H9) and PPPCC (R1=C5H7, R2=OC5H11). As expected, the magnetic susceptibility anisotropies are larger for the cyano compounds than those of the others. K-33/K-11 ratios are greater than one for the cyano compounds and are less than one for the others. With the exception of PPPCC, this ratio decreases with increasing temperature. X-ray diffraction studies on the nematic phase of PPPCC show the presence of cybotactic groups at lower temperature. The local smectic ordering of these groups increase the value of K-11 and thus reduce the value of K-33/K-11 at lower temperatures.