Kumar's book forms part of the Liquid Crystals book series and is a very timely contribution. Interest in discotic liquid crystals has never been higher and this book will provide both an excellent background to the state-of-the-art and an enduring reference text. The book begins with an introduction to liquid crystals in general and places discotic systems within the wider field. Basic structural features and characterisation are discussed, along with a more detailed overview of the various (columnar) mesophase structures. Subsequent chapters deal with the molecules themselves and their properties. There are a number of approaches to organising such a survey, and the one adopted deals in turn with monomeric, dimeric, oligomeric and, finally, polymeric systems. This approach works well, and within each chapter individual core structures are described. A comprehensive contents list leads readers directly to particular structures and the chapters describe syntheses and mesophase behaviour, supported by detailed schemes and comprehensive tables of data. Each is fully referenced and there are around 2000 references, such that full coverage of the field up to 2009 is achieved. Chapter 6, finally, gives a perspective of discotic materials and covers their current and emerging applications, such as in optical compensation films for liquid crystal displays, carbon nanostructures, organic electronics, solar cells, light-emitting diodes and field effect transistors. The book will find a prominent place on my shelf, but I suspect it will rarely be there – there has already been significant demand to consult it from my research group!
展开▼
