Entropy-Driven Formation of a Chiral Liquid-Crystalline Phase of Helical Filaments
Edward Barry(Harvard University Press), Zach Hensel(Harvard University Press), Zvonimir Dogic(Harvard University Press), Michael Shribak(Marine Biological Laboratory), Rudolf Oldenbourg(Harvard University Press)
Cited by 92Open Access
Abstract
We study the liquid-crystalline phase behavior of a concentrated suspension of helical flagella isolated from Salmonella typhimurium. Flagella are prepared with different polymorphic states, some of which have a pronounced helical character while others assume a rodlike shape. We show that the static phase behavior and dynamics of chiral helices are very different when compared to simpler achiral hard rods. With increasing concentration, helical flagella undergo an entropy-driven first order phase transition to a liquid-crystalline state having a novel chiral symmetry.