New liquid crystals based on calixarenes

New liquid crystals based on calixarenes (7 and 8) were prepared by the rea ction of calixarene, tert-butylcalix[8]arene and C-methyloctakis(2-hydroxye thyl)calix[4]resorcinarene, and 11-[(4'-cyano-1,1'-biphenyl-4-yl)oxy]undeca noyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine. The structures of 7 and 8 w ere characterized by IR, H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, and MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopi es. Compounds 7 and 8 had glass transitions at approximately -30 and 25 deg reesC, respectively. Both of them exhibited smectic liquid crystals. Compou nd 8 was found to adopt a specific molecular structure due to the rigid bow l calix[4]resorcinarene core, i.e., a cone-like structure with mesogenic un its aligned within the molecule. Moreover, the smectic A phase of 8 was tra nsformed to nematic. The supercooling of 8 for the phase transition was ver y small due to the molecular structure.