Mesomorphic and DFT study of new difluoro substituted Schiff base liquid crystals

New liquid crystal (LC) molecules with Schiff base linkage and fluoro substituents are synthesized and characterized. It is anticipated that the presence of highly electronegative and small sized fluorine atoms influences the liquid crystal’s mesomorphic behavior, while the Schiff base structure enhances polarizability and molecular interactions. The new liquid crystals are characterized by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), polarized optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Nonlinear optical properties (NLO) are studied through DFT measurements. The findings of the DSC and POM investigations show that the molecule’s mesophase behavior is significantly influenced by the terminal alkoxy chain length. Investigating the molecule’s nonlinear optical characteristics also produced encouraging findings for its possible use in photonic devices. The ability to refine the mesomorphic behavior by varying the alkoxy chain length provides a notable advantage in designing materials with specific properties for optical switching and display technologies.