A study has been undertaken of the structure-activity relationship of eight new chiral compounds having either a pyrazole (series P) or an isoxazole (series I) ring as a central bridge in the mesogenic core. The presence of dimers in the pyrazole compounds accounts for their lower P s values in comparison with the isoxazole analogues. The corresponding four beta-diketone precursors have also been studied and these, as expected given their bent molecular shape, show much worse mesomorphic and ferroelectric behaviour. In order to complete the study, the molecular dipoles of the three types of derivative have been determined using AM1 calculations. Two types of chiral tail have been incorporated into the compounds: alkoxy and alkanoyloxy. The latter tail gives rise to the best mesomorphic and ferroelectric properties. A study of the tail conformations by MM2 calculations provides an explanation of these results. The highest P s value (137 nC cm) has been obtained for the isoxazole derivative with the (2S)-2-butyloxypropanoyloxy chiral tail (compound I4). The potential of all twelve compounds as chiral dopants for FLC mixtures has been evaluated by a study of 10 mol% binary mixtures in a standard host system.