Mesomorphic behavior of new azomethine liquid crystals having terminal iodo group

A series of azomethine esters, 3-hydroxy-4-{[(4-iodophenyl)imino]methyl}phenyl alkanoates possessing even number of carbon atoms at the terminal alkanoyloxy chain (Cn-1H2n-1COO-, n = 4,6,8,10,12,14) was synthesized. n-Butanoyloxy was found non-mesogenic, whilst n-hexanoyloxy to n-tetradecanoyloxy exhibited enantiotropic smectic A phase with fan-shaped texture. It was found that the length of terminal alkanoyloxy chain influenced the mesomorphic properties.