ABSTRACT
EPR spin probe spectra of the liquid crystal phases exhibited, in the bulk, by the 1″,9″-bis(4-cyanobiphenyl-4’-yl)nonane (CB9CB) bent-shape dimer showed that, on cooling from the isotropic phase, this material forms a uniaxial nematic phase with a uniform director macroscopically aligned along the spectrometer field. Upon further cooling, a transition into the twist-bend nematic phase is observed after a biphasic region of approximately 4 K. In this lower temperature nematic phase, the director does not appear to be macroscopically aligned. The non-uniform director distribution is modelled as a collection of monodomains tilted with respect to the magnetic field and orientationally distributed around the tilt direction.
Graphical Abstract
![](/cms/asset/bbfc2131-1d19-4088-bf39-c1d87d52bff1/tlct_a_1501110_uf0001_oc.jpg)
Acknowledgments
The authors thank MIUR, the University of Bologna and the CINFO Computer Center, University of Camerino for support.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.