The crystal and molecular structures of nematogenic bis(4-butoxyphenyl
) terephthalate, C28H30O6, are reported. The molecular structure, dete
rmined by X-ray diffraction, is very different from that of the same c
ompound reported on the basis of solid-state NMR analysis [Uryu & Kato
(1988). Macromolecules, 21, 378-384]. In the structure reported here,
the carbonyl group of the ester is, as expected, almost coplanar with
the phenyl ring of the terephthalate. The conformation of the aliphat
ic chain is not fully trans-planar; there is a gauche bond. Molecules
are stacked in layers with a herring-bone type of packing within the l
ayers.