title: Chiral doping of nematic phases and its application to the determination of absolute configuration.
abstract: Doping nematic liquid crystals with nonracemic chiral compounds induces a twisted nematic (cholesteric) phase. The ability of solutes to twist the nematic phase may be related to the overall shape of the chiral dopant and consequently to its absolute configuration. The cholesteric induction is therefore a powerful tool complementary to chiroptical techniques to obtain stereochemical information on chiral molecules.
authors.affiliation: Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Chimica Organica A. Mangini,via San Giacomo 11, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pieraccini
authors.forename: Alberta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferrarini
authors.forename: Gian Piero
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Spada