Incorporation of a non-amphiphilic nematic liquid crystal into a host monolayer

Many nematic liquid crystals are not able to form stable monolayers at the air/water interface because of the lack of a polar headgroup. A possible wa y to obtain a monomolecular film with these compounds is to incorporate the m into host monolayers of amphiphilic compounds. Stable monolayers containi ng a high fraction of the liquid crystal can be obtained. We have prepared stable and transferable monolayers of MBBA (which is not an amphiphilic com pound) using octadecylmalonic acid (OMA) as host. The monolayers at the air /water interface have been characterized by measurements of surface-pressur e/area and surface-potential/area isotherms. The monolayers deposited on qu artz plates have been characterized by determining the transfer ratio and b y spectroscopic measurements.