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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
temperature-dependent orientational dynamics of 1,n-dicyano n-alkanes
Qin Zhong1, Xiang Zhu, John T Fourkas
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Institute for Physical Science and Technology, Maryland NanoCenter, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Abstract:
Ultrafast optical Kerr effect spectroscopy has been used to study the temperature-dependent orientational dynamics of 1,n-dicyano n-alkane liquids ranging from dicyanomethane to 1,8-dicyanooctane. The dependence of the reorientational times on temperature and viscosity is consistent with the molecules adopting a largely extended structure in the liquid state, with a preference for gauche conformations at the methylenes bonded to the cyanide groups. The data are also suggestive of temperature-dependent, collective structural rearrangements in these liquids.
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