Re-entrant isotropic phase of a polypeptide liquid crystal

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Abstract
Optical and C‐13 NMR examinations of concentrated solutions of poly‐γ‐benzyl‐L‐glutamate (PBLG) in a mixed solvent system containing a denaturant acid, show that this polymer liquid crystal has both a low and high temperature isotropic phase. The latter is due to thermal disruption of long‐range orientational order of the elongated macromolecules. The former re‐entrant isotropic phase is a result of an intramolecular helix to random coil transition, which leads to a macromolecular conformation inconsistent with liquid crystallinity.