Relation Between Molecular Structure and Liquid Crystalline Properties

The paper draws attention to a few selected problems that are of interest from the molecular point of view. In particular, the following topics are discussed briefly: (i) the activation energy for low frequency dielectric relaxation in the nematic and smectic A phases, (ii) near-neighbor correlation and some of its consequences, e.g., reentrant polymorphism, and (iii) the possibility of producing new kinds of thermotropic phases, e.g., biaxial nematics and discotic smectics, by bridging the gap between rod-like and disk-like mesogens.