Chemical-Physical Characterization of a Binary Mixture Made of a Photosensitive Azobenzene Derivative and a Smectogen.

We present the characterization of new binary mixtures made of two rod-like molecules: a photosensitive azobenzene derivative (calledJ7) and a smectogen (calledM11). The interest in these two specific compounds is related to their use as basic constituents of photo-active liquid crystalline elastomers and their opto-mechanic applications. Differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy were used to characterize the phase diagram of the binary systemJ7-M11.2H NMR spectroscopy of the2H-selectively labelledM11, either alone or as a probe in binary mixtures containing different ratiosJ7/M11, was applied to study the orientational ordering properties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]