Liquid Crystalline Properties of 4,4'-methylenebis(N-(4-Alkanoxybenzylidene)aniline): Synthesis, Characterization, and Theoretical study

Abstract

The paper presents six homologues series of Schiff bases ether compounds distinguished by the length of terminal alkoxy groups which substituted on a side benzene nucleus. The above structures were demonstrated through the use of spectroscopic techniques, like FT- IR and 1H-NMR. Polarized hot stage optical microscopy was used to study both mesomorphic properties and phase transitions. The results showed that out of the six compounds only three (B2, B3 and B4) were pure (marble) nematic mesophase, while no liquid crystal properties for (B5, B6 and B7) compounds. The theoretical study for the electronic structures was intended to study the effects of alkyl chain length on the electronic structure by using Gaussian program, DFT and 6-31G as basis set. The theoretical results indicate that there is no effect to the terminal substituted alkoxy groups on the HOMO energies but there is an effect on LUMO energies through decreasing energy for the prepared compounds.