The significant structure theory applied to a mesophase system.

The significant structure theory of liquids is extended to the mesophase system with p-azoxyanisole as an example. This compound has two different structures, a nematic phase and an isotropic phase, in its liquid state. In this study the nematic phase is treated as subject to a second volume and temperature-dependent degeneracy formally like that due to melting. The isotropic phase is treated as a normal liquid. The specific heat, thermal expansion coefficient, compressibility, volume, entropy of transitions, and heat of transitions are calculated and compared to the observed values. This analysis differs from previous ones in including the volume dependence as well as the temperature dependence in one explicit expression for the Helmholtz free energy.