Cyanoethylsucrose: An insulating liquid with a dielectric constant of 35

Recently there has been an increasing demand for organic materials with high dielectric constants. In addition to the novel applications made possible by high dielectric constants, there are two main uses of substantial importance for these materials. These uses are in capacitors and electroluminescent lamps. For capacitors, of course, any increase in the dielectric constant can lead to a reduction in volume for a particular capacitance, or in other words, more capacitance can be obtained from a given volume. It should go without saying, though, that a satisfactory level of volume resistivity, dissipation factor, and dielectric strength must also be maintained. For electroluminescent lamps, an increase in the dielectric constant will lead to greater light output. While volume resistivity and dissipation factor may not be as important in electroluminescent lamps as in capacitors, the dielectric strength, purity, and thermal aging characteristics become very important. Of the materials that have been used in these applications, perhaps the most noteworthy are silicone nitrile and cyanoethylated cellulose. When these materials, and others like them, are compared with cyanoethylsucrose, however, the latter is considered preferable from an economic or a dielectric standpoint or both. In this paper, the physical and electrical properties of this unusual dielectric are discussed, and some potential uses utilizing these properties are pointed out.