Patent ID: 7195719

Claim:
A chiral, non-racemic liquid crystal composition comprising a chiral compound of the formula: C n F 2n+1 C m H 2m —Y—R T -[A] a -[R A ] p -[B] b —[R B ] q —XCR wherein n is an integer from 1 to 20; m is an integer from 2 to 20; a, b, p and q are either 0 or 1, when p is 0, a is 0 and when q is 0, b is 0; Y is a single bond or oxygen; X is selected from the group consisting of a single bond, oxygen, —CO—, —O—CO—, —CO—O— and a lower alkylene group where one or more carbon atoms is optionally substituted with one or more of oxygen or —CO—; CR is selected from the group consisting of: wherein each of R 1 and R 3 is independently hydrogen, lower alkyl, lower alkenyl, lower haloalkyl, or lower haloalkenyl; R 2 is an alkyl, alkenyl, ether, thioether, or silyl group having from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms wherein one or more CH 2 groups are optionally replaced with —S—, —O—, —CO—, —CO—O—, —O—CO—, or —Si(R′) 2 , and where R′ is lower alkyl or lower haloalkyl, provided at least one carbon center indicated by * is an asymmetric carbon center; A and B, independently, are linker groups selected from the group consisting of —CO—, —O—CO—, —CO—O—, —CH 2 —CH 2 —, —CH 2 —CH 2 —O—, —O—CH 2 —CH 2 —, —C≡C—, —CH═CH—, and —CH═CH—CH═CH—, and R T , R A , and R B together represent a mesogenic core, wherein each of the R T , R A , and R B is independently selected from the group consisting of cycloalkylene, and heterocycloalkylene, cycloalkylene, heterocycloalkenylene, arylene, and heteroarylene each of which is independently optionally substituted with one or more substituents selected from the group consisting of halide, alkyl, haloalkyl, alkenyl, haloalkenyl, nitro, and nitrile.