Synthesis and physical properties of novel T-shaped chiral liquid crystal oligomers possessing terminal cyano groups

Recently we found that some chiral compounds possessing molecular biaxiality can stabilize an amorphous blue phase III. We introduced a polar group into the chiral T-shaped molecule in order to couple the molecule with an electric field. We prepared some novel T-shaped chiral compounds possessing a 4-cyanobiphenyl moiety and a mesogenic unit with a chiral center. We investigated their phase transition temperatures and induced helical pitches. We discuss structure-property correlations of the newly designed T-shaped chiral oligomers.