New materials for ferroelectric liquid crystals. Novel compounds containing chiral γ -lactone ring

Abstract
Optically active γ -lactones 3 were synthesized from chiral epichlorohydrins. Some Ferroelectric Liquid Crystalline (FLC) mixtures containing 5wt.% of the γ -lactones as dopants showed fast response time. Relations between fast responsibility and the molecular structure of the compounds are discussed.