Intermolecular potentials in liquid crystals: Comparison between simulations and NMR experiments

The anisotropic intermolecular forces responsible for the orientational ordering in liquid crystals are probed by comparing Monte Carlo (MC) simulations with experimental nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) results for solutes in nematic liquid crystals. In a special liquid crystal mixture where all long-range interactions are assumed to be minimized, the models for short-range interactions which best fit NMR experimental solute order parameters also best fit solute order parameters from MC simulations of hard ellipsoids. This is taken as an indication that in this special mixture the intermolecular potential is dominated by short-range forces. However, for liquid crystals where long-range interactions are important, simulations of hard ellipsoids with point quadrupoles cannot reproduce even the gross effects observed with experimental NMR data.