Phase Transition Investigations of a Series of Aromatic Naphthalene-2-yl-4-(Alkoxy) Benzoate and Naphthalene-1-yl-4-(Alkoxy) Benzoate Materials

The mesogenic properties of a homologous series of aromatic ester materials are investigated. Single tail and double tail materials were synthesized to compare with other series we prepared and published earlier. The phase sequences and transition temperatures were obtained by polarized light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Only the single tail materials with the ester attached to naphthalene at position 2 display mesogenicbehavior. Two materials (ZH 29 & ZH 32) possess a monophasic nematic phase and another two materials (ZH 14 & ZH 35) display biphasic nematic and smectic (A) phases.