Structure–property correlation of bicyclohexane nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

We report measurements of birefringence, dielectric anisotropy, splay and bend elastic constants of a homologous series of bicyclohexane nematic liquid crystals. These liquid crystals exhibit low birefringence and high negative dielectric anisotropy. In the nematic phase, the ratio of bend to splay elastic constant is less than 1 (Formula presented.). The low birefringence, high negative dielectric anisotropy and low elastic constant ratio are discussed based on the optimised molecular structure obtained from density functional calculations.