Information Storage in Liquids with Ordered Molecular Assemblies

In some unique cases, liquids can divert from pure isotropy due to the formation of ordered molecular assemblies with acquired “negative entropy” and information storage. The energy stored in such ordered domains can be combined with an independent quantitative parameter related to the degree of order, which can then translate the dormant information to the quantitative energetic term “information capacity”. Information storage in liquids can be thus expressed in absolute energy units. Three liquid systems are analyzed in some detail. The first is a solution of a chiral substance, e.g., amino acid in water, where the degree of optical rotation provides the measure for order while the heat liberated upon racemization is the energy corresponding to the negative entropy. The second is a neat chiral fluid, e.g., 2-butanol, complying with the same parameters as those of chiral solutions. The third is electronically excited fluorescent solute, where the shift in the emission spectrum corresponds to the energy acquired by the transiently oriented solvent envelopes. Other, yet unexplored, possibilities are also suggested.