Optical and X-Ray Studies of Some Liquid Crystals Naturally Occurring in Plants

Abstract

X-ray and optical studies have been made on the naturally occurring fluid materials of plant systems Jatropha curcas, Claotropic gigantea, Carica papaya and Ficus carica. X-ray diffraction and refractive index and difrefringence studies indicate that these materials have optically birefringent phases with three dimensional structures in them in their natural form.