Carbon-13 NMR studies of liquid crystals

High resolution, proton decoupled 13C nmr are observed for a series of neat nematic liquid crystals, the p-alkoxyazoxybenzenes, and a smectic-A liquid crystal, diethylazoxydibenzoate in a magnetic field of 23 kG. The (uniaxial) order parameters S = less than P2(costheta) greater than are found to be about 0.4 and 0.9 for the nematic and smectic-A phase respectively at the clearing points. The order parameter increases with decreasing temperature in the nematic phase but is constant, or nearly so, with temperature in the smectic-A phase. In the nematic series studied, the ordering exhibits an even-odd alternation along the series and qualitative agreement with a recent theory due to Marcelja is found. In both phases, the spectra show that the molecule rotates rapidly about its long axis. Tentative conclusions about molecular conformational motion and 14N spin relaxation are presented for both nematic and smectic-A phases. In the smectic-A phase, the sample is rotated about an axis perpendicular to H0 and the resulting spectra are dicusssed. The theory of observed chemical shifts in liquid crystals is discussed and equations are derived which relate the nmr spectra of liquid-crystals to the order parameters. A model for the smectic-C phase due to Luz and Meiboom and Doane is described and lineshapes are determined on the basis of this model for special cases. The dependence of the order parameters on the molecular potential which give rise to the various degrees of order in the different liquid crystalline phases is examined. To a good approximation the functional dependence of the order parameters on the molecular potential is shown to be a simple one in the limit of small tilt angle in the smectic-C phase