Thermotropic Liquid Crystals: Recent Advances

Recent studies have reported a plethora of novel mesogenic molecules which triggered new interest in this area of research. As a result, a range of exciting molecules such as columnar liquid crystals that lack side chains, liquid crystalline dendrimers, and unusually shaped amphiphilic molecules have been made. Characterization of these surprising molecules poses a tremendous challenge to existing physical techniques. Thermotropic Liquid Crystals: Recent Advances covers developments in the field of thermotropic liquid crystals and and assesses their functional importance. In addition it presents advances related to different sub-areas pertinent to this interdisciplinary area of research. This comprehensive text has chapters covering the applications of high-resolution methods, such as solid-state NMR, that have been used to understand the high-resolution structure, dynamics, orientation, and orientational order of these molecules in various phases.