Nematic stability of discotic liquid crystals with orientation-dependent interactions.

Technological applications of discotic nematogens are limited by the robustness of the columnar phases. This investigation employs Monte Carlo simulations to explore the potentiality of tailoring specific interactions of either stacking or peripheral type in order to enhance nematic stability. It is concluded that the nematic phase is favored for discotic particles systems with homogeneous or weakly directional interactions. However, a substantial increase in the directionality of the interaction (stacking or edge-to-edge) leads systematically to a suppression of the nematic domains in favor of the columnar phases.