On the Orientation Mechanism of Small Molecules in Liquid-Crystalline Environments

Experimental assessment of the vibration-reorientation contribution to liquid crystal NMR dipolar couplings: the case of tetramethylallene dissolved in a nematic mesophase

In the present paper, the peculiar orientational behavior, studied by liquid crystal NMR (LXNMR) spectroscopy, of the D(2d) symmetry quasi-spherical molecule of tetramethylallene (TMA) dissolved in the nematic solvent I52 is exploited to attempt a quantitative experimental assessment of the correlation between molecular vibrations and overall rotations in weakly oriented molecules. The analysis of the very small D(HH) and (1)D((13)C-H) dipolar couplings, available from the natural abundance LXNMR spectra of TMA at different temperatures, allows for a derivation leading (by making a few approximations) to the quantification of the vibration-reorientation (also called nonrigid) contribution affecting the observed direct (1)D((13)C-H) dipolar coupling. The obtained results show that, under the particular conditions of the studied system (very weak orientational ordering of a highly symmetric molecule), this contribution is particularly important, in order to reproduce the whole value of the "observed" dipolar coupling. This issue is discussed and commented on at length in the work, also, by making reference to the analogy with perfectly symmetric molecules (such as methane and analogues) dissolved in liquid crystalline phases.

The smectic effect on solute order parameters rationalized by double Maier-Saupe Kobayashi-McMillan theory

From the dipolar couplings obtained by NMR spectroscopy we have calculated the order parameters of a wide variety of solutes in the nematic and smectic A phases of the liquid crystals 8CB and 8OCB. These measurements are then rationalized with the previously tested two Maier-Saupe Kobayashi-McMillan interaction potential from which smectic order parameters are calculated.

Light-Induced Electron Spin Polarization in Vanadyl Octaethylporphyrin: I. Characterization of the Excited Quartet State

Laser flash induced spin-polarized transient electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectra for vanadyl octaethylporphyrin in isotropic and partially ordered frozen solutions are presented and compared with corresponding luminescence data. The TREPR spectra show well-resolved hyperfine couplings to the vanadium nucleus and a multiplet polarization pattern with features typical of zero-field splitting (ZFS). The principal values of the vanadium hyperfine coupling tensor evaluated from the spectra are 1/3 of the corresponding values found from steady-state EPR spectra of the ground state. On the basis of these characteristics and numerical simulations, the polarization patterns are assigned to the excited quartet state. The values of the ZFS parameters of the trip-quartet obtained from simulation of the spectra (D = 17.5 mT and E = 1.5 mT) are comparable to those of the triplet state of the zinc and free base octaethyl porphyrin. The lifetime of the spin polarization is found to be temperature dependent and is essentially the same as that of the optical emission. The temperature dependence is rationalized using a model in which the decay to the ground state occurs from both the trip-quartet and trip-doublet, which are in thermal equilibrium even at 15 K. A fit of the model to the observed spin polarization lifetimes yields an energy gap of 47 cm(-1) between the trip-quartet and trip-doublet. It is shown that the spin polarization evolves from a multiplet pattern at early times to a net absorptive pattern at late times following the laser flash. It is proposed that the establishment of thermal equilibrium leads to the evolution of the spin from multiplet to net polarization.

Testing assumptions about solute concentration dependence in liquid crystal NMR

The NMR spectra of four solutes, used as probes of liquid crystal orientational order, were analyzed. For each solute, samples were prepared at different solute concentrations, and the concentration dependence was used to extrapolate zero-concentration properties. The mean-field (Maier-Saupe) model when applied to solutes neglects solute-solute interactions and assumes all solutes in a mixed-solute sample see the same average environment. The first assumption is only valid as one approaches zero concentration, while experiments are typically carried out at concentrations between 0 and 10 mol %. The solute concentration dependence has in the past been "scaled out" using an internal solute reference as an orientational standard. We measured the concentration dependence of the orientational order parameter and calculate the corresponding interaction energies based on a mean-field interaction potential for a solute. We find agreement at the 3% level between experiments for different solutes while using (i) the zero-concentration values as solute-dependent orientational references and (ii) scaling to either order parameters or interaction energies; these two scalings gave equivalent but not identical results. We find, too, that errors inherent in the experiment and the calculations will limit attempts to refine the theory to push the comparisons beyond the 2% level.

Molecules with Large-Amplitude Torsional Motion Partially Oriented in a Nematic Liquid Crystal: Ethane and Isotopomers

An NMR study on ethane and five isotopomers dissolved in the nematic liquid crystal Merck ZLI 1132 is performed. A consistent set of dipolar and quadrupolar couplings is obtained. The dipolar couplings are corrected for harmonic vibrational effects, while the contribution from the torsional motion is incorporated classically. The corrected dipolar couplings cannot be understood in terms of a reasonable molecular structure unless effects of the reorientation-vibration interaction are taken into account. Assuming that the reorientation-vibration contributions that are known for the methyl group in methyl fluoride are transferable to ethane, excellent agreement between observed and calculated dipolar couplings is obtained on the basis of the ethane gas-phase structure. The observed and calculated deuterium quadrupolar couplings show discrepancies supporting the notion that average electric field gradients are important in liquid-crystal solvents. An important consequence of the transferability of the reorientation-vibration correlation is that in other molecules with a methyl group the same procedure as for ethane can be followed. Inclusion of this effect generally removes the need to interpret changes in observed dipolar couplings in terms of elusive chemical effects.

NMR as a tool in the investigation of fundamental problems in ordered liquids

An overview is presented of modern NMR techniques and a variety of experimental and theoretical tools employed in the study of solutes dissolved in liquid crystals. The NMR techniques involve multiple quantum and spectral subtraction methods. In addition, various experimental and theoretical tools are discussed, including: the theoretical background of observed order parameters; the use of 'magic mixtures' to separate orientational contributions; the reorientation-vibration interaction; the use of model calculations based on size and shape of the various solutes; and the use of computer simulations. Applications to the benchmark probe molecules hydrogen, methane, ethane, and butane and their isotopomers are treated.

Multiple quantum and high-resolution NMR, molecular structure, and order parameters of partially oriented ortho and meta dimethyl-, dichloro-, and chloromethylbenzenes codissolved in nematic liquid crystals

We develop a strategy for analyzing complex nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of several solutes codissolved in liquid-crystal phases. Spectral parameters of solutes m- or o-xylene were estimated by analyzing 2D multiple-quantum NMR spectra using a modified version of a least-squares fitting routine which adjusts chemical shifts, order parameters, structural parameters, and/or dipolar couplings independently. These estimates were used to facilitate analysis of the high-resolution spectra which contain resonances from many solutes. Calculated spectra of m- or o-xylene were subtracted from the experimental high-resolution spectra leaving resonances from the other solutes readily visible. Accurate spectral parameters of all codissolved solutes were determined from the high-resolution spectra. Order parameters and structural parameters (including vibrationally corrected parameters) of m- and o-xylene, m- and o-chlorotoluene, and m- and o-dichlorobenzene were calculated from the dipolar couplings.

NMR and molecular structure of partially oriented mono and para methyl- and chlorobenzenes dissolved in nematic liquid crystals

Spectral parameters, order parameters, and structural parameters, including the vibrationally corrected ralpha structure of the partially oriented solutes p-xylene, p-chlorotoluene, p-dichlorobenzene, toluene, and chlorobenzene dissolved in three liquid crystal mixtures, are reported. For samples containing the three solutes p-xylene, p-dichlorobenzene, and 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene, multiple quantum (MQ) nuclear magnetic resonance was used to aid in the analysis of the complex high-resolution spectra of the p-xylene. The high-resolution spectra of 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene and p-dichlorobenzene were easily identified and analyzed once the calculated p-xylene spectrum was subtracted from the experimental one. The methyl groups of p-xylene, p-chlorotoluene, and toluene have similar geometries when the structure is determined from dipolar couplings corrected for harmonic vibrations.Key words: nematic liquid crystal, NMR, molecular structure, order parameter.