The synthesis of 4-(2'-methylbutyl)phenyl 4'n-heptylbiphenyl-4-carboxy
late-d18 (7BEF5-d18) is presented. The compound is intended to be,used
as a means of studying the collective modes of liquid crystals by the
coherent inelastic neutron scattering technique. The 4'-n-heptylbiphe
nyl-4-carboxylic acid-d12, a liquid crystalline intermediate was prepa
red as well; its acid chloride was coupled with 4-(2'-methylbutyl)phen
ol-d, to obtain the final product. The intermediates and final product
s were investigated by spectroscopic methods.