The Maier-Saupe theory and its applications

It has been the merit of Picken (1989, 1990) having modified the Maier-Saupe mean field theory successfully for application to LCPs. He derived the stability of the nematic mesophase from an anisotropic potential, thereby making use of a coupling constant that determines the strength of the orientation potential. He also incorporated influences of concentration and molecular weight in the Maier-Saupe model. Moreover, he used Ciferri s equation to take into account the temperature dependence of the persistence length. In this way he found a relationship between clearing temperature (i.e. the temperature of transition from the nematic to the isotropic phase) and concentration ... 

Judged from the above experimental results the anisotropic dispersion interaction seems to accouht successfully for the average solute orientation at least for aromatic solute molecules. It should be emphasized, however, that the applicability of the dipolar approximation adopted in the simple Maier and Saupe theory is questionable. This approximation has been made responsible for the failure of this simple theory to account in a quantitative way for the observed temperature dependence of the order in nematic phases [120]. In an attempt to overcome these difficulties a number of authors improved the Maier and Saupe theory. 

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