Nematic discotic mesophase thermotropic liquid crystals

The prime requirement for the formation of a thermotropic liquid crystal is an anisotropy in the molecular shape. It is to be expected, therefore, that disc-like molecules as well as rod-like molecules should exhibit liquid crystal behaviour. Indeed this possibility was appreciated many years ago by Vorlander [56] although it was not until relatively recently that the first examples of discotic liquid crystals were reported by Chandrasekhar et al. [57]. It is now recognised that discotic molecules can form a variety of columnar mesophases as well as nematic and chiral nematic phases [58]. 

Thermotropic liquid crystals, 15 86-98 bent-core, 15 98 discotic phases of, 15 96 frustrated phases of, 15 94-96 metallomesogens, 15 97 nematic liquid crystals, 15 86-92 smectic liquid crystals, 15 92-94 Thermotropic mesophases, 20 79 Thermotropic polycarbonates, 19 804 Thermotropic polyesters, liquid-crystalline, 20 34... 

Thermotropic liquid crystals can then be furflier subdivided into high molecular mass, main and side-chain polymers [10] and low molecular mass, the latter class of compounds being one of the areas of this review. The phases exhibited by the low molecular mass molecules are then properly described with reference to the symmetry and/or supramolecular geometry of the phases, which are briefly introduced here and are discussed in more detail further below. Thus, the most disordered mesophase is the nematic (N), which is found for calamitic molecules (N), discoidal molecules (Nq) and columnar aggregates (Nc), among others. The more ordered lamellar or smectic phases (S) [11, 12] are commonly shown by calamitic molecules, and there exists a variety of such phases distinguished by a subscripted letter (e. g. Sa, Sb)- Columnar phases (often, if incorrectly, referred to as discotic phases) may be formed from stacks of disc-like molecules, or from... 

Lyotropic liquid crystals occur abundantly in nature, being ubiquitous in living systems.Their structures are quite complex and are only just beginning to be elucidated. However, in this monograph we shall be confining our attention mainly to the physics of low molecular weight thermotropic liquid crystals and do not propose to discuss polymer and lyotropic systems in any further detail. In chapters 2-5, we deal with the nematic, cholesteric and smectic mesophases of rod-like molecules and in chapter 6 discotic systems. 

Figure 1 General structures of calamitic and discotic thermotropic liquid crystals. (A) Layered calamitic smectic liquid crystal. The structures of the various types depend on the local packing of the molecules, the extent of the packing, and the orientation of the long axes with respect to the layers. (B) Calamitic nematic liquid crystal. The molecules have no long-range order, and are only orientationally ordered. (C) Ordered columnar discotic liquid crystal. Disk-like molecules form ordered or disordered columns different column packings give rise to various mesophase structures. (D) Nematic-discotic liquid crystal phase. The disk-like molecules are only orientationally ordered.

There are several different phases in thermotropic liquid crystals. The structural nature of mesophases is influenced by the molecular shape and therefore depends on whether the liquid crystal is formed by rod-like or disc-like molecules. Thermotropics of rod-like molecules may be divided into two main categories nematic and smectic phases. There exist many types of smectic phases, labeled as 5, 5b, S /. When an ordered solid of a liquid crystal melts (see Fig. 1.1), it may melt into a nematic phase or a smectic A phase. Upon further heating, it eventually turns into an isotropic liquid. First, classical thermotropic liquid crystals are described, and then a group of more exotic liquid crystals like discotic thermotropics, lyotropics, and liquid crystalline polymers. 

FriedeP was the first who distinguished three main classes of liquid crystals, according to the different kind of orders in the mesophases nematic, smectic, and cholesteric. From the point of view of the geometrical shape of molecules, we divide the thermotropic LCs into calamitic phases (when the molecules are rodlike), sanidic phases (when the molecules are bricklike), and the discotic phases (when the molecules are disklike)... 

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