This communication was stimulated by a meeting of the Sonderforschungs
bereich 335, 'Anisotrope Fluide' at the Technische Universitat Berlin,
in December 1994. At this conference we realized that there are some
very strong similarities between the melting processes of blue phases,
twist grain boundary phases, and cubic D phases to the isotropic, amo
rphous liquid. In all three cases the melting appears to be a two stag
e process with a sharp melting enthalpy followed by a broad diffuse en
dotherm as the disorganized liquid is formed. In this article we wish
to draw attention to similarities in the nature of these melting proce
sses, to suggest a general descriptive model for the breakdown in mole
cular ordering, and to stimulate a theoretical debate in order to gain
an understanding of the role of frustration phenomena in melting proc
esses.