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PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

A terminal-group and fluorination matrix for designing polar nematic liquid crystals

  • Calum J. Gibb
  • Jordan Hobbs
  • William C. Ogle
  • Richard. J. Mandle
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Abstract

Lateral fluorination has emerged as a powerful design variable in the design of polar liquid crystals, but its interplay with terminal-group identity remains poorly understood. Here we report a 40-member matrix of biphenyl-ester-phenyl mesogens that independently varies lateral core fluorination and terminal-group identity. Increasing lateral fluorination generally suppresses apolar mesophases and clearing points, however this same change can enable polar nematic phase behaviour in conjunction with suitable terminal units. Graph Fourier analysis of conformer averaged atomic charges shows polar materials occupy a high-frequency region of charge-spectral space, consistent with a bond-scale electrostatic motif. Different terminal units can bias this towards higher or lower frequencies, and in doing so can enable polar order to emerge.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{gibb2026terminalgroup,
  title = {{A terminal-group and fluorination matrix for designing polar nematic liquid crystals}},
  author = {Calum J. Gibb and Jordan Hobbs and William C. Ogle and Richard. J. Mandle},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.28312},
  eprint = {2610.28312},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.28312},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - A terminal-group and fluorination matrix for designing polar nematic liquid crystals
AU  - Calum J. Gibb
AU  - Jordan Hobbs
AU  - William C. Ogle
AU  - Richard. J. Mandle
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/20
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.28312
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.28312
AB  - Lateral fluorination has emerged as a powerful design variable in the design of polar liquid crystals, but its interplay with terminal-group identity remains poorly understood. Here we report a 40-member matrix of biphenyl-ester-phenyl mesogens that independently varies lateral core fluorination and terminal-group identity. Increasing lateral fluorination generally suppresses apolar mesophases and clearing points, however this same change can enable polar nematic phase behaviour in conjunction with suitable terminal units. Graph Fourier analysis of conformer averaged atomic charges shows polar materials occupy a high-frequency region of charge-spectral space, consistent with a bond-scale electrostatic motif. Different terminal units can bias this towards higher or lower frequencies, and in doing so can enable polar order to emerge.
ER  -