Chemistry Letters, Vol.30, No.7, 690-691, 2001
Synthesis and mesomorphic properties of liquid crystals with a 5,5'-bitropolone skeleton
New troponoid liquid crystals with a bitropolone core were prepared. The ester derivatives (1) had enantiotropic smectic A and/or C phases with higher thermal stabilities than the corresponding benzenoid derivatives (2), which had smectic B phases. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the layer spacings of the smectic A and C phases were not so much different.