Chromonic liquid crystal phases

Over the past few years, there has been a growing acceptance in the scientific community of the term ‘chromonic’ and a wider recognition of the well-defined package of properties that it implies. There have been developments in the modelling of the interactions which give rise to stacked π systems, attempts to model the thermodynamics of chromonic phase formation, extensions in the range of known chromonic structures (to include the hollow chimney and lattice brickwork aggregates) and studies of the ordered aggregates of monolayers of chromonic dyes adsorbed onto various substrates.