We report the isotropic-liquid crystalline phase diagram of 3.0 nm × 60 nm CdSe nanorods dispersed in anhydrous cyclohexane. The coexistence concentrations of both phases are found to be lower and the biphasic region wider than the results predicted by the hard rod model, indicating that the attractive interaction between the nanorods may be important in the formation of the liquid crystalline phase in this system.

High-resolution NMR spectra of 13C-iodomethane dissolved in thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystalline solvents have been used to measure 1H−H and 13C−1H dipolar couplings. The ratio of these two couplings, which is a function of the H−C−H bond angle in 13C-iodomethane, is, in general, different from that expected from the known molecular structure; solvent−solute interactions in liquid crystalline solutions are responsible for this difference. In thermotropic liquid crystalline solutions, the apparent bond angle deviation (Δθa) increases with decreasing molecular ordering. In contrast, in lyotropic liquid crystals, no significant spectral aberration has been observed. These results indicate a fundamental physicochemical difference between the intermolecular interactions that prevail in thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystals.