Synthesis of new carbosilane ferroelectric liquid-crystalline dendrimers

Two series of carbosilane ferroelectric LC dendrimers of the first-third ge nerations containing 8, 16, and 32 chiral mesogenic terminal groups, respec tively, were synthesized for the first time. The structure of all the synth esized compounds was studied by NMR spectroscopy. It was found that all the se compounds display a chiral smectic C mesophase in a wide temperature int erval. It was demonstrated that as the generation number increases, spontan eous polarization diminishes; its maximum for the dendrimer of the first ge neration is about 140 nC/cm(2).