The conformation and orientational order of a 1,2-disubstituted ethane nematogenic molecule (I22) in liquid crystalline and isotropic phases studied by NMR spectroscopy

Abstract

The structure, conformation and orientational order of the mesogen I22 have been studied by proton, carbon-13 and deuterium 1D and 2D-NMR spectroscopies at natural abundance and at various magnetic fields when in the nematic phase, the isotropic phase close to the nematic-isotropic phase transition, and as a solute in the chiral nematic solution comprised of the polypeptide PBLG dissolved in chloroform. It is concluded that 95% of conformers have a trans arrangement about the central C–C bond of the ethane fragment in all phases.