A surface-alignable micellar nematic

Abstract

The lyotropic mesophases of alkali metal salts of 4-trans-pentyl cyclohexanoic acid have been studied. The lithium salt is of particular interest in that it forms a lyotropic nematic phase, a hexagonal phase, and another columnar phase, possibly with a rectangular lattice. Unlike most nematics, this phase can assume a parallel alignment on a treated surface in much the same way as thermotropic (molecular) nematics. When the nematic dries, a columnar phase grows into it, showing a strong preferential direction of the column axes. This system should be useful in studying the nematic-columnar transition and in other investigations which require an aligned micellar nematic phase.