Attempts Towards Novel Cycloalkane Liquid Crystals

This paper is concerned with the relationship between molecular structure and liquid-crystalline properties of two types of functionalized cycloalkanes, i.e. cyclopentanes and cyclohexanes, in the latter case myo- and scyllo-inositol. The occurrence of columnar or lamellar mesophases is discussed for a variety of new compounds in relation to: 1) the role of heteroatoms in side chains, 2) the core size and stereochemical arrangement of heteroalkyl side chains, and 3) the replacement of such side chains by hydroxyl groups. Both in the cyclopentane and inositol series various interesting examples of new multihydroxy liquid crystals have been synthesized and studied. Their mesophases are of supramolecular architecture based on hydrogen bonding networks.