Anticlinic Ferroelectric Bananas for Electro-Optic Modulators

Five bent-core compounds structurally analogous to 8OPIMB6* were synthesized using three types of non-imine linkages for better stability. Only two showed liquid crystal phases, and neither possessed the SmC A P F phase. Four compounds were synthesized with the Tschierske core to determine whether or not fluorinated tails can be used to improve stability while maintaining the SmC A P F phase. All four exhibited polar smectic C phases, and two showed the SmC A P F phase. Racemic 8OPIMB6* was synthesized to test the importance of chirality in SmC A P F compounds, it was found to have properties identical to the chiral 8OPIMB6*.