Novel calamitic N-methylimidazolium and pyridinium salts with modified citronellyl side-chains and various counterions 3–14 have been synthesised by utilising the commercially available (R)-citronellol (15) as the starting material. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarising optical microscopy (POM) and temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction studies revealed smectic A (SmA) mesophases for