Pressure-scanning DTA measurements of the cubic–smectic C phase transition of 1,2-bis-(4-n-octyloxy)- and 1,2-bis-(4-n-dodecyloxy benzoyl)hydrazines

The pressure-scanning differential thermal analyzer (DTA) measurements of the cubic (Cub)–smectic C (SmC) transition of thermotropic cubic mesogens of 1,2-bis-(4-n-octyloxybenzoyl)- and 1,2-bis-(4-n-dodecyloxybenzoyl)hydrazine, BABH(8) and BABH(12), were performed at isothermal condition using a high-pressure differential thermal analyzer. BABH(8) showed the same endothermic peak of the Cub–SmC transition in the pressurizing process as on heating at isobaric condition. On the other hand, BABH(12) showed only the cubic phase between the crystal and the isotropic liquid under pressures up to 16–17 MPa, but a high-pressure smectic C (SmC(hp)) phase was induced instead of the cubic phase under higher pressure. The Cub–SmC(hp) phase transition with a small exothermic peak occurred in the pressurizing process and the transition was observed reversibly. The Cub–SmC(hp) phase transition was in accordance with the morphological and structural observations mentioned before. The strange phenomenon of the inversion of sign of the Cub–SmC transition heat of BABH(n) homologues can be explained by the “Alkyl-chains as entropy reservoir” mechanism proposed by Saito et al.