Chalcone Group Based Liquid Crystal Compounds - Nikhil Agarwal - Bog

Liquid crystals are unique functional soft materials which combine both order and mobility on a molecular, supramolecular and macroscopic level. Liquid crystals are accepted as the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas. Liquid crystals form a state of matter intermediate between the solid and the liquid state. For this reason, they are referred to as intermediate phases or mesophases. This is a true thermodynamic stable state of matterLiquid crystals are important in material science as well as in the life science. Important applications of thermotropic LCs are electro-optic displays, temperature sensors and selective reflecting pigments. Lyotropic systems are incorporated in cleaning process, and are important in cosmetic industries. They are used as templates for the preparation of mesoporous materials and serve as model systems for biomembranes. LCs are important in living matter. Most important are the biological membranes, DNA can form lyotropic mesophases etc. LCs are now playing significant role in nanoscience and nanotechnology such as synthesis of nanomaterials using LCs as template, the design of LC nanomaterials, alignment and self-assembly, etc.