A novel AFLC compound, (S)-4-dodecyloxyphenyl-4-(2-methyl)-butyloxybiphenyldicarboxylate (DPMBBD), has been synthesized and its liquid crystalline behaviour is studied by thermal microscopy (TM), Diffrential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), spontaneous polarization (P-s) and response times (tau) measurements. The preliminary investigations on the ferroelectric proper-ties of the present material imply the presence of an antiferroelectric phase (Sm-C-A*) with a high magnitude of spontaneous polarization, Further, the molecular contributions towards the magnitude of spontaneous polarization in the antiferroelectric phase are discussed in the light of ester linkages of biphenyl moiety.