In the liquid crystal state, molecules can be oriented by an electric field, which makes them useful for display applications, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) screens. Liquid crystals are used in the displays of watches, calculators, and flat screen televisions. A new liquid crystal phase, the biaxial nematic phase (Nb), was discovered in 2004. This phase may offer faster switching and lower power consumption in electronics with LCD screens. However, the original compounds synthesized only exhibited the Nb phase at around 200�C, which is impractically high for industrial applications. Though new compounds have been synthesized which remain in the nematic phase at room temperature upon cooling, these compounds are not fluid enough to be useful for device applications. During the summer I synthesized a few new compounds that have small structural modifications compared to the original derivatives, and one of them stayed in the nematic phase to room temperature.

Synthesis and analysis of brominated oxazole based liquid crystals

245th National Meeting (2013)

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