Studies on the Homogeneous Nucleation of Crystalline Solids From Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Solutions

Abstract

<p>The results of a study on the homogeneous nucleation of liquid crystalline solutions are reported.</p> <p>We report the synthesis and some properties of four new esters of sulfoacetic acid and note the observation of the liquid crystalline properties of their aqueous solutions. The existence of these mesophases is interpreted in terms of the micelle structures offerred elsewhere for the similar case of sulfonic acid soap solutions. Also the metastability of some mesophase transitions is reported.</p> <p>Some significant nucleation parameters are derived from the application of classical nucleation theory to the liquid crystal-solid phase transition. Discrepancies between these values and the literature results for other compounds are interpreted in terms of the extensive pre-nucleation ordering in the liquid phase.</p>