Liquid crystal materials lyotropic nematic phases

We note that earlier research focused on the similarities of defect interaction and their motion in block copolymers and thermotropic nematics or smectics [181, 182], Thermotropic liquid crystals, however, are one-component homogeneous systems and are characterized by a non-conserved orientational order parameter. In contrast, in block copolymers the local concentration difference between two components is essentially conserved. In this respect, the microphase-separated structures in block copolymers are anticipated to have close similarities to lyotropic systems, which are composed of a polar medium (water) and a non-polar medium (surfactant structure). The phases of the lyotropic systems (such as lamella, cylinder, or micellar phases) are determined by the surfactant concentration. Similarly to lyotropic phases, the morphology in block copolymers is ascertained by the volume fraction of the components and their interaction. Therefore, in lyotropic systems and in block copolymers, the dynamics and annihilation of structural defects require a change in the local concentration difference between components as well as a change in the orientational order. Consequently, if single defect transformations could be monitored in real time and space, block copolymers could be considered as suitable model systems for studying transport mechanisms and phase transitions in 2D fluid materials such as membranes [183], lyotropic liquid crystals [184], and microemulsions [185],... 

However, in 1986, Chandrasekhar [70] published a derivative (Figure 35) which he claimed to show a biaxial nematic phase. This report was interesting because the biaxial nematic phase (Nb), demonstrated in lyotropic systems [71], had been long sought after in thermotropic materials. Further, the molecules were described as bridging the gap between rod- and disc-like materials (a reference perhaps better reserved for polycatenar liquid crystals—vide infra)... 

Mesophases can be locked into a polymer network by making use of polymerizable LCs [59]. These molecules contain moieties such as acryloyl, diacety-lenic, and diene. Self-organization and in situ photopolymerization under UV irradiation will provide ordered nanostmctured polymers maintaining the stable LC order over a wide temperature range. A number of thermotropic liquid crystalline phases, including the nematic and smectic mesophases, have been successfully applied to synthesize polymer networks. Polymerization of reactive lyotropic liquid crystals also have been employed for preparation of nanoporous polymeric materials [58, 60]. For the constmction of nanoporous membranes, lyotropics hexagonal or columnar, lamellar or smectic, and bicontinuous cubic phases have been used, polymerized, and utilized demonstrated in a variety of applications (Fig. 2.11). 

These materials represent the first observation of the SmC (zig-zag) and SmO (arrow head) structure in rod-coil diblock copolymers [41] in contrast to the homopolymer of poly( -hexyl isocyanate) which only form a nematic mesophase (both lyotropic [65] and thermotropic [66]). This confirms the idea by Halperin [60, 69] that rod-coil systems are a microscopic model for smectic liquid crystals in general. Although the SHIC rod-coil system has a relatively broad polydispersity, a smectic mesophase over a size scale of as much as 10 xm has been observed (Fig. 4B). This indicates that microphase separation plays a very important role in determining the self-assembly of the liquid crystalline process of these blocks. The existence of only a nematic phase in the rod homopolymer system is probably due to its broad polydispersity in contrast to the fact that a smectic meso-... 

There are two principal categories of mesophases, thermotropic and lyotropic. Thermotropic liquid crystals are formed within a particular range of temperature in a molten material, with no solvent present, whereas lyotropic liquid crystals are formed by some substances when they are dissolved in a solvent. Within each of these categories there are three distinct classes of mesophases, which were first identified by Friedel in 1922. The simplest of these to describe are the nematic and smectic classes, illustrated schematically in fig. 12.16. These phases are formed by long thin rigid molecules which tend to line up parallel to each other. 

It is now certain that metal carboxylates were the first metal-containing liquid crystals, reported in 1855 with Heinz s work on magnesium tetradecanoate. Then, many other mesomorphic mono-, di-, and tri-valent carboxylate complexes, with the general formula [M(02CC H2 +i)J (x=l, 2, 3) or [M2(02CC H2 +i)4] were prepared. Some of them were described in 1910 by Vorlander." These materials may show thermotropic nematic, smectic, cubic, and columnar mesophases, but also, when dissolved in water or alkanes, lyotropic mesophases. While not all of the compounds described in this section show columnar phases, it was decided to keep these materials together. 

The current (third) period, which may be called a colonization, involves wide electrooptical investigations of novel effects in ferroelectric liquid crystals [9, 10] and a study of exotic materials like polymeric and lyotropic mesophases, blue phases in cholesterics, well-ordered smectics, and so on. For conventional (nematic and cholesteric) phases the accent was shifted to the optimization of the material properties for electrooptical devices, though novel phenomena like the supertwist effect [11] and a gamma of linear electrooptical effects [12-14] have also been discovered. 

Liquid crystals are wonderful materials. In addition to the solid crystalline and liquid phases, liquid crystals exhibit intermediate phases where they flow like liquids, yet possess some physical properties characteristic of crystals. Materials that exhibit such unusual phases are often called mesogerrs (i.e., they are mesogenic), and the various phases in which they could exist are termed mesophases. The well-known and widely studied ones are thermotropics, polymeries, and lyotrop-ics. As a function of temperatirre, or depending on the corrstituerrts, concentration, substituents, and so on, these liqirid crystals exist in many so-called mesophases— nematic, cholesteric, smectic, and ferroelectric. To understand the physical and optical properties of these materials, we will begin by looking into their constituent molecules. ... 

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