Comments on Some Recent Developments in the Field of Liquid Crystals

Three areas of research into liquid crystals which have seen considerable development since the last International Liquid Crystal Conference at Bordeaux in 1978 have been selected for a brief over-view.

These areas concern: 1. New Liquid Crystal Materials containing non-aromatic ring systems and the developments which have followed from the earlier studies of esters of trans-4-n-alkylcyclohexane-1-carboxylic acids and the trans-4-n-alkyl-l-(4′-cyanopheny1)cyclohexanes (PCH's).

2. Agreement over a Nomenclature Problem Concerning Smectic Polymorphs and some interesting features of the smectic phase sequences for the 4-n-alkoxybenzylidene-4′-n-alkylanilines.

3. Discotic Phases—the discovery that the historically well known mesophase of di-isobutyl-silandiol is a discotic liquid crystal phase and the progress being made in studies of other discotic systems.