EXAFS Experiment on a Copper Liquid Crystalline Coordination Compound

The results on the EXAFS experiments performed on a liquid crystalline copper (II) coordination compound are reported. To the best of our knowledge these are the first results concerning a calamitic liquid crystal. The shell-by-shell data analysis, either in solids or S B mesophase, shows a copper-copper correlation at 3.85 Å, a distance which roughly corresponds to the molecular thickness. These results, together with the X-ray measurements previously carried on a monocrystal, suggest a local biaxial smectic phase.