Investigation of phase transition in the binary mixture of thermotropic liquid crystalline systems 4-(Heptylox) benzoic acid and 4-(Undecyloxy) benzoic acid using Raman and DFT studies

Abstract

A binary mixture Uba@Hba of liquid crystalline systems; 4-(Undecyloxy) benzoic acid and 4-(Heptylox) benzoic acid was prepared, and their liquid crystalline properties were investigated through differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy at the bulk level and temperature dependent Raman spectroscopic technique as well as density functional calculations at molecular level. The polarized optical microscopic studies revealed crystal, smectic A, nematic and isotropic phases in the Uba@Hba. The phase transition temperatures of the binary mixture Uba@Hba was identified by the temperature dependent Raman study which was found almost close to phase transitions observed in differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy. The detailed Raman & DFT studies provide information occurring in phase transitions at molecular level. The changes in inter/intra-molecular interactions at crystal → smectic A and smectic A → nematic transitions have been discussed in detail. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.