Fluorescence study of a thermotropic liquid crystal: Bis (p-hexyloxyphenyl) terephthalate

Abstract

The microstructure of the low molecular weight thermotropic liquid crystal, bis(p-hexyloxyphenyl)terephthalate (PP6), was analysed by fluorescence. The material has an emission around 400 nm in its various liquid crystalline phases, but this emission disappears in the isotropic phase. The emission was attributed to fluorescence from an intermolecular ground state complex between two different chromophores of PP6 based on fluorescence experiments of model compounds and dilute PP6 solutions. No peak shifts were observed on changing temperature, while the fluorescence intensity decreased as the temperature was increased. The fluorescence intensity changed dramatically at the phase transitions. An abrupt change in the fluorescence intensity was observed on changing depending on the temperature especially at the smectic-nematic transition temperature. Thus, the intermolecular fluorescence of the liquid crystal is greatly affected by the phase structure and the order of liquid crystalline phase.