Azomesogens with 1,2,4-trisubstituted benzene moiety

New mesogenic homologous series having an azo central linkage was synthesized by fixing a rigid 4-methyl phenyl azo group to resorcinol moiety. The terminal and lateral phenolic -OH groups were esterified, one by one, with 4-n-alkoxybenzoyl and acetyl group, respectively. All the twelve homologues synthesized exhibit mesomorphism. The methoxy ton-decyloxy andn-hexadecyloxy derivatives exhibit monotropic nematic mesophase whereas,n-dodecyloxy andn-tetradecyloxy derivatives exhibit enantiotropic nematic mesophase. The mesogenic properties of the present series was compared with those of other structurally related mesogenic series. Paper presented at the 5th National Seminar on Liquid Crystals, University of Jammu, Jammu, December 1997.