Structural isomerism and flow birefringence of octanol, nonanol and decanol

Abstract

The flow birefringence over a temperature range 10–40°C has been measured for structural isomers of octanol, nonanol and decanol. The Maxwell constants and stress-optical coefficients are found to be strongly dependent upon the position of the OH group along the carbon skeleton, being smaller when this group is nearest the middle of the molecule. The results are compared with predictions of molecular orientation theories of flow birefringence.