THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF CHOLESTERYL OLEYL CARBONATE DETERMINED WITH MICROSCOPIC FTIR/DSC SYSTEM

A microscopic Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (Micro FTIR) equipped for differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to measure simultaneously the chemical structural variation and the thermal response of phase transition of cholesteryl oleyl carbonate (COC). The differential scanning calorimeter served also to determine the phase transitions of COC during heating or cooling. Two endothermic features due to phase transition were found in the thermogram: 18.3 degrees C for a smectic-cholesteric transition and 37.5 degrees C for a cholesteric-isotropic transition during heating; 35.1 degrees C for an isotropic-cholesteric transition and 15.8 degrees C for a cholesteric-smectic transition during cooling. The breadth of the feature indicated sluggish phase transitions. The three-dimensional plot indicated that the intensities of lines due to the C-H stretching and scissoring deformation modes and C=O stretching mode of COC decreased suddenly near the temperature of phase transition during heating but the intensity of the line dues to the C-O stretching mode of carbonate ester of COC increased. Lattice vibrations or coupling of vibrational modes might be responsible for the result. These intensities in the cooling process varied inversely to those in heating process.