Phase Transitions of 4'-n-Alkoxy-3'-nitrobiphenyl-4-carboxylic Acids and Related Binary Systems

Abstract

The phase diagrams of binary systems of ANBC-14-n-tetradecane and ANBC-14-n-hexadecane were studied, where ANBC-14 is 4'-n-alkoxy-3'-nitrobiphenyl-4-carboxylic acid (ANBC-n) with n=14. It was found that the phase diagrams of those binary systems with respect to the apparent average numbur of paraffinic carbon atoms n, which is from both the paraffin and the alkoxy chain of ANBC-14, is very similar to that of pure ANBC-n system versus n. This indicates that the alkoxy chain behaves in part like the solvent in lyotropic liquid crystals.