Influence of terminal alkyl chain length on helical twisting property of chiral 1,2-propanediol derivatives

In this study, a novel series of chiral 1,2-propanediol derivatives with different terminal alkyl chain length were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR and DSC. After doped into a nematic liquid crystal host, all the chiral dopants induced chiral nematic liquid crystals exhibiting a helix inversion with temperature variation. The results indicate that terminal alkyl chain length has a prominent influence on helical twisting property of the chiral dopants. With increasing the terminal alkyl chain length, the molecular twisting power increases, the helix inversion temperatures varies slightly while the phase transition temperature decreases. An odd–even effect may exist in the molecular twisting power of the chiral dopants.