Abstract
Liquid crystalline materials typically involve organic compounds and show a state of order intermediate between the familiar crystalline lattices and those of isotropic liquids. In 1888, Reinitzer [1.1] performed experiments with molten cholesteryl benzoate under a polarizing microscope and discovered two melting points. The substance melted from a solid at 145.5°C into a cloudy but completely fluid phase, and only at a much higher temperature (178.5°C), did it become completely clear. Lehmann [1.2] found that the turbid liquid was birefringent, and hence optically anisotropic. He coined the term liquid crystal for this new state of order. Today, the word “mesophase” is a more appropriate and meaningful description of this intermediate state between crystal and liquid. Any organic liquid comprised of nonspherical (either rod-like or discotic) molecules is, in theory, capable of forming a mesophase, and about 0.5% of all pure organic compounds show liquid crystalline behavior. Liquid crystals may be divided into two broad categories: thermotropic and lyotropic. Thermotropics have temperature-dependent phase behavior, while lyotropics exhibit concentration-dependent phase behavior. The former is typically a one-component system, while the latter requires a solvent (e.g., water) plus the liquid crystalline solute. In this monograph, emphasis will be given to thermotropic systems.
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Dong, R.Y. (1994). Introduction to Liquid Crystals. In: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of Liquid Crystals. Partially Ordered Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0208-7_1
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