In this review we consider the relationships between molecular structure and the tendency of liquid crystal dimers to exhibit smectic phases, and show how our application of these led to the recent discovery of the twist-bend, heliconical smectic pha...
Liquid crystalline dimers and dimesogens have attracted significant attention due to their tendency to exhibit twist-bend modulated nematic (NTB) phases. While the features that give rise to NTB phase formation are now somewhat understood, a comparab...
We report the synthesis, phase-transition behavior, and mesophase structures of the first homologous series of thioether-linked liquid crystal (LC) trimers, 4,4′-bis[ω-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-ylthio)alkoxy]biphenyls (CBSnOBOnSCB with a...
A selection of novel non-symmetric supramolecular liquid crystal dimers and trimers formed by hydrogen-bonding have been prepared and their phase behaviour characterised by polarised optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and temperature-dependent Fou...
Nematic twist-bend phases (NTB) are new types of nematic liquid crystalline phases with attractive properties for future electro-optic applications. However, most of these states are monotropic or are stable only in a narrow high temperature range. T...
The twist-bend nematic (NTB) phase of bent-shaped molecules has recently attracted much attention due to the spontaneous bend of its director field and the doubly-degenerate chirality of its heliconical structure. Despite intensive experimental and t...
Nanoscale-modulated nematic phases formed by bent-core and dimeric molecules raise the question of how a new periodic structure can emerge within an already orientationally ordered nematic state. In this note we discuss a Landau phenomenological inte...
Bent-shaped liquid crystal (LC) dimers, trimers, and oligomers are intriguing because of their unique liquid crystallinities, which have gained further impetus after the identification of the twist-bend nematic (NTB) phase in these molecules. LC trim...
Phosphorus is an indispensable key element in life systems and materials science. Here in this work, several cyanoterphenyl-based phosphinic acid-bridged liquid crystal (LC) dimers of 2(CTOn)P (n = 6, 11) and their methyl esterification derivatives o...