Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 May 10;19(18):11429-11435.
doi: 10.1039/c7cp00456g.

A nematic to nematic transformation exhibited by a rod-like liquid crystal

Affiliations

A nematic to nematic transformation exhibited by a rod-like liquid crystal

Richard J Mandle et al. Phys Chem Chem Phys. .

Abstract

A novel, highly polar rod-like liquid crystal was found to exhibit two distinct nematic mesophases (N and NX). When studied by microscopy and X-ray scattering experiments, and under applied electric fields, the nematic phases are practically identical. However, calorimetry experiments refute the possibility of an intervening smectic mesophase, and the transformation between the nematic phases was associated with a weak thermal event. Analysis of measured dielectric data, along with molecular properties obtained from DFT calculations, applying the Maier-Meier relationship allowed for the degree of antiparallel pairing of dipoles in both nematic phases to be quantified. Based on the results, we conclude that the onset of the lower temperature phase is driven by the formation of antiparallel molecular associations.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources