Liquid crystals, dipolar

Another important application of perturbation theory is to molecules with anisotropic interactions. Examples are dipolar hard spheres, in which the anisotropy is due to the polarity of tlie molecule, and liquid crystals in which the anisotropy is due also to the shape of the molecules. The use of an anisotropic reference system is more natural in accounting for molecular shape, but presents difficulties. Hence, we will consider only... 

Gil-Villegas A, McGrother S C and Jackson G 1997 Reaction-field and Ewald summation methods in Monte Carlo simulations of dipolar liquid crystals Mol. Phys. 92 723-34... 

Detailed x-ray diffraction studies on polar liquid crystals have demonstrated tire existence of multiple smectic A and smectic C phases [M, 15 and 16]. The first evidence for a smectic A-smectic A phase transition was provided by tire optical microscopy observations of Sigaud etal [17] on binary mixtures of two smectogens. Different stmctures exist due to tire competing effects of dipolar interactions (which can lead to alternating head-tail or interdigitated stmctures) and steric effects (which lead to a layer period equal to tire molecular lengtli). These... 

As witli tlie nematic phase, a chiral version of tlie smectic C phase has been observed and is denoted SniC. In tliis phase, tlie director rotates around tlie cone generated by tlie tilt angle [9,32]. This phase is helielectric, i.e. tlie spontaneous polarization induced by dipolar ordering (transverse to tlie molecular long axis) rotates around a helix. However, if tlie helix is unwound by external forces such as surface interactions, or electric fields or by compensating tlie pitch in a mixture, so tliat it becomes infinite, tlie phase becomes ferroelectric. This is tlie basis of ferroelectric liquid crystal displays (section C2.2.4.4). If tliere is an alternation in polarization direction between layers tlie phase can be ferrielectric or antiferroelectric. A smectic A phase foniied by chiral molecules is sometimes denoted SiiiA, altliough, due to the untilted symmetry of tlie phase, it is not itself chiral. This notation is strictly incorrect because tlie asterisk should be used to indicate the chirality of tlie phase and not tliat of tlie constituent molecules. 

The frustration effects are implicit in many physical systems, as different as spin glass magnets, adsorbed monomolecular films and liquid crystals [32, 54, 55], In the case of polar mesogens the dipolar frustrations may be modelled by a spin system on a triangular lattice (Fig, 5), The corresponding Hamiltonian consists of a two particle dipolar potential that has competing parallel dipole and antiparallel dipole interactions [321, The system is analyzed in terms of dimers and trimers of dipoles. When the dipolar forces between two of them cancel, the third dipole experiences no overall interaction. It is free to permeate out of the layer, thus frustrating smectic order. 

N.m.r. studies of liquid crystal media showed that phenyl sulphonate counter ions induced abrupt changes in the dipolar coupling of methy1phosphonate. 61... 

Each of these couplings is inversely proportional to the cube of the distance between the atoms concerned, and all the dipolar couplings depend on the degree of orientation of the molecules. The ratios of couplings thus depend on the ratios of distances in the molecule, and from them the entire molecular structure, except for the overall size, may be determined. Studies of silyl compounds dissolved in cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals have yielded the following HSiH angles ... 

When a molecule exhibits large internal motions difficulties arise in using most available techniques for the determination of molecular geometry. In a study of 2,2 -biselenophene it was shown that although internal motion is present, useful structural information can still be obtained in the liquid crystal phase and that, at present, other techniques are not available for obtaining equivalent information, at least not in a liquid-like phase.13 This study also demonstrates the usefulness of the heteroatom satellites, and in particular of Se—H dipolar couplings. 

Aryl-5-cyano-2-isoxazolines, possessing liquid crystal properties (smectic phases A or E) have been synthesized, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to acrylonitrile being the key step (532). For example, nitrile 462 has been obtained in 66% yield from substituted benzaldoxime and acrylonitrile via in situ generated nitrile oxides. 

It is interesting to note that several long-chain dipolar Schiff bases have physical properties which impart to them liquid crystal behavior [2a, b]. Most of these imines are disubstituted 7V-benzyIideneanilines (structure I) which... 

The conformations of flexible chain molecules incorporated in a nematic environment are investigated. Proton-proton and carbon-carbon dipolar coupling constant measurements are attempted for 1,2-dimethoxyethane and 1,2-diphenoxyethane, in addition to 2H NMR observations of quadrupolar splittings. These conformation-dependent properties are analyzed according to the RIS scheme. Studies are further extended to a mixture of 1,2-diphenoxyethane with a nematic liquid crystal, 4,4 -azoxyanisole. 

FLC phases in the surface stabilized geometry possess a single C2 axis of symmetry, and therefore polar order and non-zero x<2) in the simple electronic dipolar model. Thus, it is not surprising that experiments aimed at measuring this property were first reported shortly after the Clark-Lagerwall invention. Early studies (14-15) described second harmonic generation in (S)-2-Methylbutyl 4-(4-decyloxybenzylideneamino)cin-namate, the first ferroelectric liquid crystal, also known as DOBAMBC (1). 

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