Highly ordered aggregates in dilute dye-water systems

摘要: Polarizing optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements have been made on liquid crystals formed by two dyes in water. The dyes, one a cyanine dye and the second an azo dye, both form mesophases above ca. 0.2 wt%. Low angle X-ray diffraction data show that the cyanine dye forms a layer (“smectic”) phase (spacings up to 750 A), while the azo dye formscolumnar nematic and hexagonal mesophases. For both dyes the aggregates appear to be rigid and well ordered, giving rise to multiple lowangle diffraction peaks (up to 6 …