On the transitional properties of rigid oligomers. The orientational order of the monomer 4-n-pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl and its platinum dichloride linked dimer

Abstract

We have studied the orientational order of the monomer 4-n-pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) and of the dimer, [PtCl₂(5CB)₂], formed by linking two cyanobiphenyl units via a platinum dichloride bridge, dissolved in a common nematic solvent, using deuterium NMR spectroscopy. Analysis of the second rank order parameters, obtained from these experiments, in terms of a molecular field theory yields the anisotropic solute-solvent strength parameter responsible for the solute alignment. In the limit of low solvent order the strength parameters for the monomer and dimer differ significantly, in accord with the differing anisotropies of these two solutes. However, as the solvent order increases, so the relative difference in the strength parameters decreases, tending to zero. A possible explanation for this intriguing behaviour is proposed.