Phase Transition Behavior of a Cubic Liquid Crystalline COmpound ANBC-16 under Hydrostatic Pressure

Abstract

The phase transition behavior of 4'-hexadecyloxy-3'-nitrobiphenyl-4-carboxylic acid (ANBC-16) was investigated under hydrostatic pressures up to 200 MPa by high-pressure differential thermal analysis measurements. ANBC-16 is known to exhibit a thermotropic liquid crystalline cubic phase. As pressure P was increased, the temperature region of the cubic phase became narrower and in the low temperature side a new phase X appeared around P=35 MPa. Above P=65 MPa, the cubic region was completely replaced by the X region.