1. Design and Synthesis of Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystal Twist Agents
James A. Rego
Department of Chemistry, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
The chiral nematic liquid crystal phase - the typical organic component of LC displays - possesses a supramolecular helical ordering. We have synthesized conformationally restricted helix-inducing diamide dopants derived from L-amino acids. In an effort to understand the relationship between molecular shape and helix induction, we are correlating calculated minimum energy conformers with helical twisting power.