Electrostatic stabilization of liquid crystalline ordering in binary melts of sodium and potassium alkanoates

The mesophase electrostatic stabilization energy (E) has been examined by using the ionic continuous solid solution model for binary systems of sodium and potassium alkanoates with a common anion. It is found that E increases with a decrease in chain length of the alkanoate anion and that there is an inverse proportionality between E and the square of the mesophase bilayer spacing. The electrostatic stabilization factor is shown to be responsible for the formation of an ionic mesophase in binary acetate and propionate systems derived from two non-mesomorphic components.