Phase Behavior and Dynamics of Binary and Multicomponent Thioester Liquid Crystal Mixtures.

The results of studies conducted by means of complementary methods, differential scanning calorimetry, transmitted light intensity measurements, polarized optical microscopy, the electro-optical method, as well as dielectric relaxation spectroscopy of two new liquid crystal mixtures are presented. The first mixture is an equimolecular binary mixture consisting of two ferroelectric chiral liquid crystals from the homologous series, abbreviated as (S)-MHOBSn. The second mixture is a multicomponent mixture and consists of four mesogens from the homologous series of nOS5 as the base of the mixture, abbreviated as 610712 and chiral MHOBS8. The binary MHOBS4 + MHOBS7 mixture has an enantiotropic phase sequence, as follows: Cr, SmG*, SmI*, SmC*, N*. The second mixture has the same phase sequence but a much wider temperature range of ferroelectric SmC* phase. The switching time changes from 50 to 90 µs in the SmC* phase of the binary MHOBS4 + MHOBS7 mixture, whereas in 610712 + MHOBS8, the change is more than an order of magnitude higher, ranging from 500 to 3500 µs. Numerical analysis of the dielectric spectra results point toward the complex dynamics of the MHOBS4 + MHOBS7 and 610712 + MHOBS8 mixtures. The relaxation processes in the crystalline, SmC*, SmI*, and SmG* subphases have been observed and described. The relaxation processes have been detected up to 12 °C. There is a very low intensity Goldstone mode in SmC* and a low-frequency noncancellation mode in the SmI* and SmG* phases.

Dynamics and the mesomorphic properties of a novel antiferroelectric liquid crystalline thiobenzoate MHPSBO10: thermal, optical and dielectric spectroscopy study.

The complementary studies of the mesomorphic properties of a novel antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) (S)-2-octile 4-S-(4'decyloxybiphenyl-4-tiocarboxy)benzoate, known under MHPSBO10 acronym have been undertaken. The polymorphism has been complementary studied in details by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Transmitted Light Intensity (TLI) and Polarization Microscopy (POM). The switching characteristics along with multiple macroscopic parameters describing the mesomorphic properties were determined by using electro-optic measurements, both upon cooling and heating. Frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy (DS), covering a wide frequency range, has been applied to characterize the molecular motions. Several collective modes, including the low frequency processes in the condensed hexatic phase were detected, analyzed in details and followed with the temperature. The presented studies deliver a wide report of the phase transitions, molecular dynamics and the macroscopic properties of the novel antiferroelectric thiobenzoate.