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Abstract
A general scheme has been constructed to study the branching of the fully symmetrical solution of the molecular field equation in the case when the molecular coordinates parametrise a certain group Q. A relationship is established between these branchings and the phase transitions. Branchings corresponding to the formation of orientationally ordered and spatially modulated structures are studied explicitly. Special attention is paid to phase transitions from the isotropic liquid to nematic and cholesteric phases. Characteristics of these transitions (for example Curie temperature, order of transition, and symmetry of the phase formed) have been related to the intermolecular potential energy and the pair correlation function.