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Frustration of crystallisation by a liquid-crystal phase.

ABSTRACT: Frustration of crystallisation by locally favoured structures is critically important in linking the phenomena of supercooling, glass formation, and liquid-liquid transitions. Here we show that the putative liquid-liquid transition in n-butanol is in fact caused by geometric frustration associated with an isotropic to rippled lamellar liquid-crystal transition. Liquid-crystal phases are generally regarded as being "in between" the liquid and the crystalline state. In contrast, the liquid-crystal phase in supercooled n-butanol is found to inhibit transformation to the crystal. The observed frustrated phase is a template for similar ordering in other liquids and likely to play an important role in supercooling and liquid-liquid transitions in many other molecular liquids.

SUBMITTER: Syme CD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5314399 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Frustration of crystallisation by a liquid-crystal phase.

Syme Christopher D CD Mosses Joanna J González-Jiménez Mario M Shebanova Olga O Walton Finlay F Wynne Klaas K

Scientific reports 20170217

Frustration of crystallisation by locally favoured structures is critically important in linking the phenomena of supercooling, glass formation, and liquid-liquid transitions. Here we show that the putative liquid-liquid transition in n-butanol is in fact caused by geometric frustration associated with an isotropic to rippled lamellar liquid-crystal transition. Liquid-crystal phases are generally regarded as being "in between" the liquid and the crystalline state. In contrast, the liquid-crystal ...[more]

PMID: 28209972

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