Theoretical prediction of the cholesteric pitch in thermotropic and lyotropic systems

Abstract

The expression for the cholesteric pitch given by the theory of Lin-Liu et al. is extended by explicit consideration of the orientational entropy terms. The temperature dependence, as well as the dependence on the mole fraction in non-mesogenic solutions and on the degree of polymerization in polymer cholesterics can be obtained. In some cases helical inversion can be induced by variation of concentration as well as temperature.