The conformations adopted by α,δ-bis(phenoxy)ethane in isotropic and nematic solutions

Abstract

Errors in the calculations of Cheung and Emsley (Liquid Crystals, 13, 265 (1993)) used to derive the populations of α,δ-bis(phenoxy)ethane dissolved in isotropic and nematic liquid crystalline solvents have been corrected, and the results are compared with those obtained on the same molecule by Abe, Iizumi and Kimura (Liquid Crystals, 16, 655 (1994)). The principal difference between these two calculations is that Abe et al., obtain 0·80 as the population of the tg ± t conformers, and they find this to be independent of temperature, whereas the present calculations obtain 0·42 to 0·58 depending upon solvent and temperature.