Recent Developments in Nematogenic Bent-Core Mesogens: an X-ray Diffraction Perspective

Bent-core mesogens are attracting great attention because of their potentially biaxial and polar nematic phase. In this paper, we review the results of our recent X-ray diffraction studies on the nematic phase of oxadiazole-based mesogens. The evolution of the smallangle diffraction signal with temperature points to the existence of nano-sized cybotactic clusters, characterized by short-range smectic-like fluctuations. However, in contrast to classical cybotaxis of calamitic nematics, these fluctuations do not have a pretransitional nature. They explain most of the extraordinary properties of bent-core mesogens and, in particular, are responsible for the unique ferroelectric response exhibited by one of our compounds.