High-temperature chiral nematic phase in naphthalene and cholesterol derivative liquid crystal: characterisation and dielectric relaxation study

Abstract

In this article, we report the synthesis of the naphthalene and cholesterol derivative 2-(cholesterol-n-decanoate)-6-(heptyloxy benzoate) naphthalene (2CD6HBN) liquid crystal (LC) having chiral nematic (N*) mesophase. The synthesised mesophase has been characterised using polarising optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) study. The presence of the rigid and less polarisable cores causes a higher N*-Iso transition temperature. The relaxation phenomenon of the present LC sample was analysed by the dielectric relaxation spectroscopic study. The dielectric properties, electrical conductivity and the relaxation time were observed as a function of the temperature. The relaxation time follows the first-order exponential decay–type equation. The properties of the LC sample have also been correlated with the structure of the compound.