TCI C1550 4-Cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl, widely known as 5CB, is a benchmark nematic liquid crystal built on a rigid biphenyl core with a polar cyano head and a flexible pentyl tail. Its nematic behaviour near ambient temperature makes it especially convenient for classroom demonstrations and laboratory studies that do not require elaborate heating stages. Researchers commonly use it in test-cell fabrication, polarized light microscopy, liquid crystal based sensing, and as a host matrix for evaluating new mesogenic compounds. AMI Scientific supplies this TCI material in 1 g, 5 g, and 25 g packs for materials science, electronics, and photonics laboratories.
Advantages (TCI brochure)
- Example nematic liquid crystal with large dielectric constant anisotropy for fast-responding TN mode displays
TCI brochures (PDF)
- Liquid Crystal Materials 2026-04-01 · p. 4
Related TCI products
- TCI M2885 64835-63-8 4'-Methyl-4-pentylbiphenyl
- TCI H0812 41122-71-8 4-Cyano-4'-heptylbiphenyl
- TCI C3540 86776-50-3 4-Cyano-3-fluorophenyl 4-Ethylbenzoate
- TCI C3512 123843-69-6 4-Cyano-3,5-difluorophenyl 4-Pentylbenzoate
- TCI C3341 86776-52-5 4-Cyano-3-fluorophenyl 4-Butylbenzoate
- TCI C3277 65860-74-4 4-Cyano-4'-undecylbiphenyl
From the TCI brochure
- TN (Twisted Nematic) mode liquid crystal displays
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