Optical and thermal studies on lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals in nematic and biphasic regions

A binary mixture of abietic acid and orthophosphoric acid (H3PO4) exhibits coexistence of biphasic region of Nematic + Isotropic (N + I), lyotropic Nematic (N-D), and Smectic-G (SmG) phases. The mixture exhibits N + I, N and SmG phases at different concentrations and at different temperatures. Mixtures with all concentrations of abietic acid exhibit I -> N + I -> N -> SmG phases sequentially when the specimen is cooled from its isotropic melt. These phases have been characterized by using differential scanning calorimetric, X-ray diffraction, and optical texture studies