New chiral ether derivatives of 2-arylidene-p-menthane-3-ones as components of induced ferroelectric systems

New 2-arylidene-p-menthane-3-ones containing the ether bridging group in th e arylidene fragment have been synthesized and studied as chiral dopants in ferroelectric liquid crystal mixtures. The ferroelectric properties of the se compositions were compared with those for compositions including chiral dopants that do not contain any bridging group. The influence of bridging g roup and terminal alkyl substituent length in the dopant molecule on the fe rroelectric parameters of systems studied is discussed.