LIQUID CRYSTALS
(Engineering Chemistry, B.Tech-1st Year)
By
Dr. Ranvijay Pratap Singh
Assistant Professor
Department of Applied Science & Humanities
Faculty of Engineering & Technology
University of Lucknow
Liquid crystals (LCs)
It is intermediate stage between solid and clear liquid. When a solid is
heated then, it firstly converted into turbid liquid and on further
increasing the temperature, turbid liquid converted into clear liquid. This
turbid liquid is known as liquid crystals (LCs).
transition point melting point
crystalline solid turbid liquid clear liquid
(anisotropic liquid) (anisotropic liquid) (isotropic liquid)
liquid crystal * No Positional order
* Positional order * No Orientational Order
* Orientational Order mesomorphic stage
* Small Positional order
* Small Orientational Order
Dr. R. P. SINGH
H3C
CH3 CH3
CH3 CH3
O
Cholesteryl Acetate
O H3C
CH3 CH3
CH3 CH3
Cholesteryl Benzoate
O
Dr. R. P. SINGH
Liquid crystals are classified into two categories:-
1. Lyotropic liquid crystals
2. Thermotropic liquid crystals
a) Nemactic LCs
b) Smectic LCs
c) Cholesteric LCs
•Lyotropic liquid crystals:
Compound which shows liquid crystal behavior, when dissolve in a solvent or on
changing the concentration of solution, is known as lyotropic liquid crystal. These
Compounds are amphiphilic in nature means they contain both hydrophobic (the
tail) and hydrophilic (head) part in same molecule. They arranged to form rod like
or sphere like structure known as Micelles. Therefore they used in the formation of
cosmetics, soap, detergent etc.
Micelles
Dr. R. P. SINGH
•Thermotropic liquid crystals:
Compound show liquid crystal behavior on changing the temperature. They can be
changed into the liquid crystal state from either lowering the temperature of a liquid or
raising of the temperature of a solid. Materials displaying thermotropic LC property are
mostly organic or metal containing organic compounds. The aromatic cores and some
non-aromatic cores account for the rigidity while paraffinic chains are the soft regions of
the molecule. They arranged to give rod like or disk like structure.
Rod like structure
Disk like structure
transition point melting point
crystalline solid turbid liquid clear liquid
(isotropic liquid)
(anisotropic liquid) (anisotropic liquid)
liquid crystal
Dr. R. P. SINGH mesomorphic stage
•Nemactic LCs:
The term nemactic derives from the Greek word nematos means thread. It look like a
thread when seen under microscope. These are formed by optically inactive compounds.
The simplest LC phase is the nematic and it generally occurs just below the isotropic
phase with a viscosity comparable to those of isotropic liquids. In this phase the
constituent molecules have no positional order but are on an average, oriented about a
particular direction called the director, n.
•Smectic LCs:
The term smectic derives from the Greek word smectos means soap. Each layer of
smectic phase slide over one another like soap. In some phases the molecular center of
gravity is on an average arranged in equidistant planes, so that in addition to
orientational order, positional order is also present which leads to a layered structure:
such phases have been called smectics.
Dr. R. P. SINGH
•Cholesteric LCs or chiral nematic LCs:
Cholesteric mesophase is the chiral variant of the nematic mesophase and therefore it is
also called chiral nematic phase. It occurs in systems where constituent molecules are
chiral. It can also be obtained by doping the nematic LC with optically active molecules.
The name cholesteric has a historical origin i.e., this particular type of liquid crystalline
organization was observed in esters of cholesterols. Cholesteric liquid have layered
structure in which molecule of one layer have some angle to the molecule of another
layer. To form a full helix molecules of layers undergoes 360 degree rotation. The distance
of full helix or complete helix is known as Pitch. Helix may be left or right handed depends
on the configuration of molecule. The length of pitch is responsible for the color of
cholesteric LCs.
180
Half-helix
360
Helix (Pitch)
180
Half-helix
Dr. R. P. SINGH
Application: a) LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen used in of television, laptop, mobile etc.
b) used in detection of tumor cells
c) used to detect the person’s mood and skin temperature.
d) cholesteric liquid crystals are used in chiral recognition of compounds.
e) used as drug releasing vehicle.
f) Lyotropic liquid crystals are exploited for application in commercial
detergents & cosmetics.
Dr. R. P. SINGH
