Thermal and mesomorphic behavior of Schiff-base-benzoate esters with varying alkyl chain lengths

In the present content, a novel series of Schiff-base-Benzoate derivatives (V1-V16) was synthesized and characterized to explore their liquid crystalline (LC) properties. The materials were studied for spectral (Furrier Transform-Infrared and 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and thermal analysis. A phase recognition approach using optical polarizing microscopy was applied to confirm structural integrity and mesophase behavior. It has revealed LC characteristics of both smectic and nematic mesophases with tunable molecular alignment driven by external stimuli. A theoretical calculation was used to disclose electronic properties, and thus, the obtained theoretical results indicate that alkoxy chain length significantly influences mesophase stability.