Crystallization bulk liquid

There has been much activity in the study of monolayer phases via the new optical, microscopic, and diffraction techniques described in the previous section. These experimental methods have elucidated the unit cell structure, bond orientational order and tilt in monolayer phases. Many of the condensed phases have been classified as mesophases having long-range correlational order and short-range translational order. A useful analogy between monolayer mesophases and die smectic mesophases in bulk liquid crystals aids in their characterization (see [182]). 

Carbon dioxide gas diluted with nitrogen is passed continuously across the surface of an agitated aqueous lime solution. Clouds of crystals first appear just beneath the gas-liquid interface, although soon disperse into the bulk liquid phase. This indicates that crystallization occurs predominantly at the gas-liquid interface due to the localized high supersaturation produced by the mass transfer limited chemical reaction. The transient mean size of crystals obtained as a function of agitation rate is shown in Figure 8.16. 

Inhibitors are usually added to butadiene and acrolein to prevent polymerization, but the system is not foolproof. Several runaways have occurred in tank trucks or tank cars containing acrolein. As it cooled, some of the liquid crystallized, leaving the inhibitor in solution. In other cases impurities have been left behind in the bulk liquid, and their concentration has risen sufficiently to start a runaway. 

Loudet JC, Poulin P (2003) Monodisperse Aligned Emulsions from Demixing in Bulk Liquid Crystals. 226 173-196... 

This article reviews progress in the field of atomistic simulation of liquid crystal systems. The first part of the article provides an introduction to molecular force fields and the main simulation methods commonly used for liquid crystal systems molecular mechanics, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics. The usefulness of these three techniques is highlighted and some of the problems associated with the use of these methods for modelling liquid crystals are discussed. The main section of the article reviews some of the recent science that has arisen out of the use of these modelling techniques. The importance of the nematic mean field and its influence on molecular structure is discussed. The preferred ordering of liquid crystal molecules at surfaces is examined, along with the results from simulation studies of bilayers and bulk liquid crystal phases. The article also discusses some of the limitations of current work and points to likely developments over the next few years. 

Force fields split naturally into two main classes all-atom force fields and united atom force fields. In the former, each atom in the system is represented explicitly by potential functions. In the latter, hydrogens attached to heavy atoms (such as carbon) are removed. In their place single united (or extended) atom potentials are used. In this type of force field a CH2 group would appear as a single spherical atom. United atom sites have the advantage of greatly reducing the number of interaction sites in the molecule, but in certain cases can seriously limit the accuracy of the force field. United atom force fields are most usually required for the most computationally expensive tasks, such as the simulation of bulk liquid crystal phases via molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo methods (see Sect. 5.1). 

Table 1. Atomistic simulations of bulk liquid crystals... 

NMR cryoporometry relies on the melting point depression, i.e., the difference in the melting point of crystals with a finite size d, Tm(d), relative to the value of the bulk liquid Tm, which is given by the simplified Gibbs-Thomson equation [16] ... 

A very different model of tubules with tilt variations was developed by Selinger et al.132,186 Instead of thermal fluctuations, these authors consider the possibility of systematic modulations in the molecular tilt direction. The concept of systematic modulations in tubules is motivated by modulated structures in chiral liquid crystals. Bulk chiral liquid crystals form cholesteric phases, with a helical twist in the molecular director, and thin films of chiral smectic-C liquid crystals form striped phases, with periodic arrays of defect lines.176 To determine whether tubules can form analogous structures, these authors generalize the free-energy of Eq. (5) to consider the expression... 

SAM surface will not participate in H-bonding with the bulk liquid crystal (EG) and therefore the bulk material will not exhibit polar order thus, the SHG signal should be very low. 

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