Electronic structure calculations of liquid crystal molecules: Application to chiral solutes

S.J. Clark, G.J. Ackland, J. Crain

Research output: Contribution to conferenceOther

Abstract / Description of output

Thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs) in the nematic phase can often be induced to have a cholesteric phase by addition of molecules having chiral characteristics, such as the binaphthyl class of molecules. The study of such phases is made difficult by the lack of knowledge about the behaviour of such molecules. For example, finding relatively simple properties such as exact structures, the important factor being the dihedral angle between the binaphthyl groups, to dipole and quadrupole moments are hampered by the difficulty in performing accurate calculations or experiments. In this paper we present results of first principle electronic structure calculations on the binaphthyl molecule and also on its nitrate. We have calculated accurate structural information, and in particular calculate the total energy of the molecules and the dipole and quadrupole moments as a function of the dihedral angle optimising the structure at each point. We also discuss the changes to the molecular and electronic structure when certain terminal groups are added to the molecule. Accurate energetics and structural information on the molecular/electronic level such as this leads to accurate modelling potentials for large scale empirical computations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages166-170
Number of pages5
Publication statusPublished - 1997

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Chiral solutes
  • Dipoles
  • Molecular modelling
  • Tortional potentials

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Electronic structure calculations of liquid crystal molecules: Application to chiral solutes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this