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Updated: Mar 28, 2026

Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Chemical Programming of the Domain of Existence of Liquid Crystals
Thibault Dutronc1, Emmanuel Terazzi2, Laure Guénée3
1Department of Inorganic, Analytical and Applied Chemistry, University of Geneva, 30 quai E. Ansermet, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Abstract:
This work illustrates how enthalpy and entropy changes responsible for successive phase transitions of cyanobiphenyl-based liquid crystals can be combined to give cohesive free energy densities. These new parameters are able to rationalize and quantify the demixing of the melting and clearing processes that occur in thermotropic liquid crystals. Minor structural variations at the molecular level can be understood as pressure increments that alter either the melting or clearing temperatures in a predictable way. This assessment of microsegregation operating in amphiphilic molecules paves the way for the chemical programming of the domain of existence of liquid-crystalline phases.
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