Cubic Phases 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-carboxytic 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^*per ANBC-14 molecule, which is from both the paraffin and the alkoxy chain of ANBC-14, is quite 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.