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In this work, we present a Deuteron Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (DNMR) study of the non-symmetric odd liquid crystal dimer α-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-yloxy)-ω-(1-pyrenimine-benzylidene-4′-oxy) heptane (CBO7O.Py), formed by a pro-mesogenic cyanobiphenyl unit and a bulky pyrene-containing unit, linked via alkoxy flexible chain. We have synthesized two partially deuterated samples: one with the deuterium atoms in the cyanobiphenyl moiety (dCBO7O.Py) and the other one with the deuterium atoms in the pyrenimine-benzylidene unit (CBO7O.dPy). We have performed angular distribution analysis in the SmA glassy state, obtaining the degree of order of both rigid cores and an estimation of the internal molecular angle between both structures. With the results from the angular study, we have been able to determine the degree of order of both rigid units in either the N phase and the SmA phase, far enough from the glass transition. Both rigid cores have the same degree of order close to the nematic–isotropic phase transition, but as the compound is cooled down, the degree of order of the cyanobiphenyl moiety is clearly higher than that of the pyrene-containing unit. The critical behaviour of the order parameter of the pyrene-containing moiety is consistent with the fact that, for CBO7O.Py, the N–I phase transition is tricritical, which seems to indicate that the uniaxial order parameter of the dimer is dominated by the degree of order of the pyrene-containing core., The authors from INMA greatly appreciate financial support from projects of the Spanish Government PDI2021-122882NB-I0 [MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE] and the Gobierno de Aragón/FEDER (research group E47_20R). Thanks to the nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, elemental and thermal analysis services of the CEQMA (Univ. Zaragoza-CSIC). The authors from UPV-EHU are grateful to Gobierno Vasco for funding (IT1458-22). N. S. acknowledges the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P1-0192).

We have performed dielectric spectroscopy and thermally stimulated-depolarization-current experiments to study the molecular dynamics of the twist-bend nematic phase close to the glass transition of two members of the 1¿,7'-bis(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yl)alkane homologous series ( CB n CB ): the liquid crystal (LC) dimers CB9CB and CB7CB, as well as a binary mixture of both. By doping CB9CB with a small quantity of CB7CB, the crystallization is inhibited when cooling the sample down, while the bulk properties of CB9CB are retained and we can investigate the supercooled behavior close to the glass transition. The study reveals that the inter- and intramolecular interactions of the mixture are similar to those of pure CB9CB and confirms that there is a single glass transition in symmetric LC dimers.

The nature of the nematic-nematic phase transition in the liquid crystal dimer 1″,9″-bis(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yl) nonane (CB9CB) has been investigated using techniques of calorimetry, dynamic dielectric response measurements, and (2)H NMR spectroscopy. The experimental results for CB9CB show that, like the shorter homologue CB7CB, the studied material exhibits a normal nematic phase, which on cooling undergoes a transition to the twist-bend nematic phase (N(TB)), a uniaxial nematic phase, promoted by the average bent molecular shape, in which the director tilts and precesses describing a conical helix. Modulated differential scanning calorimetry has been used to analyze the nature of the N(TB)-N phase transition, which is found to be weakly first order, but close to tricritical. Additionally broadband dielectric spectroscopy and (2)H magnetic resonance studies have revealed information on the structural characteristics of the recently discovered twist-bend nematic phase. Analysis of the dynamic dielectric response in both nematic phases has provided an estimate of the conical angle of the heliconical structure for the N(TB) phase. Capacitance measurements of the electric-field realignment of the director in initially planar aligned cells have yielded values for the splay and bend elastic constants in the high temperature nematic phase. The bend elastic constant is small and decreases with decreasing temperature as the twist-bend phase is approached. This behavior is expected theoretically and has been observed in materials that form the twist-bend nematic phase. (2)H NMR measurements characterize the chiral helical twist identified in the twist-bend nematic phase and also allow the determination of the temperature dependence of the conical angle and the orientational order parameter with respect to the director.

The melt from the usual monoclinic phase (Phase I) of biclotymol (T(fusI) = 400.5 +/- 1.0 K, Delta(fus)H(I) = 36.6 +/- 0.9 kJ mol(-1)) recrystallizes into another phase, Phase II, that melts at T(fusII) = 373.8 +/- 0.2 K (Delta(fus)H(II) = 28.8 +/- 1.0 kJ mol(-1)). The transformation of Phase II into Phase I is found to be exothermic upon heating either as a direct process at 363 K or through a melting-recrystallization process (II --> liquid --> I). The melting curves, obtained from differential thermal analyses at various pressures ranging from 0 to 85 MPa, diverge as the pressure increases ((dP/dT)(fusI) = 2.54 +/- 0.07 MPa K(-1), (dP/dT)(fusII) = 5.14 +/- 0.85 MPa K(-1)). A topological P-T diagram with no stable phase region for Phase II, and similar to the 4th case of the P-T state diagrams formerly published by Bakhuis Roozeboom, is drawn, thus illustrating the overall monotropic behavior of Phase II.