¹³C Relaxation Times Study of Liquid Crystalline p-Methoxybenzylidene-p-Butylaniline

Abstract

The ¹³C relaxation times T₁ and T₂ for all resolved carbon lines are reported as a function of temperature in the nematic and isotropic phases of MBBA. Also the NOE measurements were performed in the both nematic and isotropic phases.

The discontinuity of ¹³C T₂'s was observed at the nematic-isotropic transition point. From T₁ and T₂ data, it is shown that a short range order remains in the small temperature range just above the isotropic-nematic transition point.

The region of small temperature dependence was found in the plots of ¹³C T₁ vs reciprocal temperature. The rotational motion around the molecular axis was estimated to be three orders faster than the motion around the axis perpendicular to the molecular axis.