The new compounds 4-decyloxy-2-fluorobenzoic acid and 4-dodecyloxy-2-fluorobenzoic acid display hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals (HBLC) of smectic and nematic phases. Their phase behavior established using polarizing optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) consistently occurs as the sequence upon cooling: Isotropic liquid-Nematic-SmCcrystalline solid. The dielectric study in the nematic phase shows a single relaxation process at low frequency characteristic of a cybotactic nematic phase. The optical properties of the nematic phase show a decrease of birefringence as alkyl chain length increases in the high-temperature part of the nematic domain, which reveals a decrease of order parameter for longer chains.

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