Liquid Crystals Based on Hypervalent Sulfur Fluorides: Pentafluorosulfuranyl as Polar Terminal Group.

The somewhat "exotic" pentafluorosulfuranyl functionality is one of the strongest electron-withdrawing groups with a purely inductive effect. Owing to its chemical stability and the resulting high dipole moment of its aromatic derivatives, this group was crucial to the design and synthesis of a new class of highly polar liquid crystals (such as 1) for application in active matrix displays. A computational model was developed with the aim to understand and predict the electrooptic properties of liquid crystals based on hypervalent sulfur fluorides.