Synthesis and characterization of a liquid crystal containing oxadiazole and its performance for the separation of isomers by gas chromatography

Liquid crystals are used as the stationary phase in gas chromatography to separate close-boiling isomers. In this paper, a new nematic liquid crystal containing oxadiazole was prepared by condensation of the amino group of 4-(5-(ethylthio)-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-yl)aniline and the aldehyde group of p-methoxy-benzaldehyde. The compound was characterized by NMR, IR, X-ray diffraction, polarized light microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. The liquid crystal was used as the stationary phase in gas chromatography, and the nematic phase separated a variety of isomers, such as benzene derivatives, ionone, and citral.