On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie
Brief review of the literature on the history of thermotropic liquid crystal discovery and the role of the observations reported by Julius Planer in his note published almost 150 years ago.
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Інститут фізики конденсованих систем НАН України
2010
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| Назва видання: | Condensed Matter Physics |
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| Цитувати: | On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie / A. Trokhymchuk // Condensed Matter Physics. — 2010. — Т. 13, № 3. — С. 37002:1-4. — Бібліогр.: 10 назв. — англ. |
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irk-123456789-321132012-04-09T12:25:50Z On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie Trokhymchuk, A. Rapid Communication Brief review of the literature on the history of thermotropic liquid crystal discovery and the role of the observations reported by Julius Planer in his note published almost 150 years ago. 2010 Article On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie / A. Trokhymchuk // Condensed Matter Physics. — 2010. — Т. 13, № 3. — С. 37002:1-4. — Бібліогр.: 10 назв. — англ. 1607-324X PACS: 01.65.+g http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/32113 en Condensed Matter Physics Інститут фізики конденсованих систем НАН України |
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Rapid Communication Rapid Communication Trokhymchuk, A. On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie Condensed Matter Physics |
| description |
Brief review of the literature on the history of thermotropic liquid crystal discovery and the role of the observations reported by Julius Planer in his note published almost 150 years ago. |
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Article |
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Trokhymchuk, A. |
| author_facet |
Trokhymchuk, A. |
| author_sort |
Trokhymchuk, A. |
| title |
On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie |
| title_short |
On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie |
| title_full |
On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie |
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On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie |
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On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie |
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on julius planer's 1861 paper "notiz über das cholestearin" in annalen der chemie und pharmacie |
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Інститут фізики конденсованих систем НАН України |
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2010 |
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Rapid Communication |
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http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/32113 |
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On Julius Planer's 1861 paper "Notiz über das Cholestearin" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie / A. Trokhymchuk // Condensed Matter Physics. — 2010. — Т. 13, № 3. — С. 37002:1-4. — Бібліогр.: 10 назв. — англ. |
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Condensed Matter Physics |
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2025-07-03T12:38:46Z |
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2025-07-03T12:38:46Z |
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1836629441289125888 |
| fulltext |
Condensed Matter Physics 2010, Vol. 13, No 3, 37002: 1–4
http://www.icmp.lviv.ua/journal
On Julius Planer’s 1861 paper “Notiz über das
Cholestearin” in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie∗
A. Trokhymchuk1,2
1 Institute for Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
1 Svientsitskii Str., 79011 Lviv, Ukraine
2 Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, Provo 84602, USA
Received September 1, 2010
Brief review of the literature on the history of thermotropic liquid crystal discovery and the role of the observa-
tions reported by Julius Planer in his note published almost 150 years ago.
Key words: history of science, cholesteryl chloride, thermotropic cholesteric liquid crystal phase
PACS: 01.65.+g
In his celebrated article [1], widely known as the first publication on liquid crystals, Friedrich
Reinitzer among others gives a proper credit for his finding to the work of Julius Planer [2] published
twenty seven years earlier. In particular, Reinitzer wrote: “Thus, Planar reports that cholesteryl
chloride displays a violet colour during cooling from the melt which vanishes again upon solidifying.
Raymann reports similar observations on the same substance. Lobisch reports that cholestery-
lamine when melted displays a bluish-violet ‘fluorescence’ and also mentions the occurrence of the
same phenomenon in the case of cholesteryl chloride. I myself observed a similar phenomenon in
cholesteryl benzoate, and Latschinoff reports for the silver salt of cholesteric acid, which is formed
by oxidation of cholesterol, that it turns steel blue when melted, which fact is probably to be
explained in the same way”.
The selective reflection in cholesteryl chloride by Planer in 1861 and in cholesteryl benzoate by
Reinitzer in 1888 unambiguously proves observation of the cholesteric liquid crystal phase. However,
neither Planer nor Reinitzer did not pursue studying liquid crystals further. The research was
continued by Otto Lehmann, who realized that this is a new phenomenon and started its systematic
study resulting in the paper [3] published in 1889. Many scientists cite only the Reinitzer’s article
when referring to these pioneering observations. In the modern literature, several textbooks give
credit for the observation of liquid crystalline state to Planer, some to both Planer and Reinitzer,
whereas some give credit for this important observation to Reinitzer alone. Interestingly, both
Reinitzer [1] and Planer [2] papers originally were published in German. However, an English
translation of the Reinitzer’s article was already republished in 1989, i. e., after hundred years
[4]. The goal of this note is to introduce the Planer’s 1861 paper to a wider condensed matter
community. To show the importance of this paper, in what follows we present the selected citations
of the Planer’s observations that we were able to locate in modern literature, in particular, in some
of the textbooks dedicated to the history of liquid crystals discovery.
To proceed, let us first say a few words on this Planer’s 1861 paper [2] (a translation of this
paper into English can be found in this issue). From the paper one can learn that Planer is primarily
∗Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie (often cited as just Liebigs Annalen) was one of the oldest and most his-
torically important chemistry journals worldwide [http:www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Annalen-der-Chemie].
Founded in 1832, it was edited by Justus von Liebig with Friedrich Wohler until Liebig’s death in 1873. In 1997
it was merged with a number of other leading national European chemistry journals to continue as the European
Journal of Organic Chemistry: History of the journal’s name: Annalen der Chemie, 1832–1839; Annalen der Chemie
und Pharmacie, 1840–1872; Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, 1873–1874; Justus Liebigs Annalen
der Chemie, 1875–1944 and 1947–1978; Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 1979–1994; Liebigs Annalen, 1995–1997.
c© A. Trokhymchuk 37002-1
http://www.icmp.lviv.ua/journal
A. Trokhymchuk
interested in describing the synthesis of cholesteryl chloride. Most of the article is devoted to the
details of the compound synthesis and sample preparation (this work, in particular, was important
from the viewpoint of assuming that the molecular formula of cholesterol is C27H46O and that of
cholesteryl chloride is C27H45Cl [4]). However, Planer also describes the observation of (what we
now know as) the liquid crystal state exhibiting selective color reflection in the cholesteric phase.
He writes that when slowly crystallized from alcohol/ether, the cholesteryl chloride sample shows
long needle-like crystals. These crystals melt at temperature close to the boiling point of water
(in good agreement with the current data for the crystal-isotropic phase transition for cholesteryl
chloride at approximately (95–98)◦C). Upon cooling, the molten (in current terminology this would
be “liquid crystalline”) substance exhibits a lively violet color when viewed in reflected light and
yellow-green color when viewed in transmission light. According to Planer, upon completion of the
cooling process, the sample again adopts the crystalline state and the colors vanish.
Interestingly, that besides the already mentioned 1888 paper by Friedrich Reinitzer[1] and its
1989 English translation[4], the chronologically next reference to the Planer’s 1861 paper is the
1988/1989 article by Semynozhenko and Lisetski [5]. This article is in Russian and is dedicated
to the hundred anniversary of the liquid crystal discovery. At the beginning of this article there
is a paragraph that reads1: ”Against the common tradition one can claim that liquid crystalline
state of matter was known at least 27 years earlier [than it has been reported by Reinitzer in 1888
(A.T.)]. In 1861 the journal Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie has published the paper by Prof.
Planer from the Lviv University titled ”Notiz über das Cholestearin”[2]. In this paper, dedicated
to the study of cholesteryl forms there is a phrase: ”. . . long needle-shaped crystals . . . melt roughly
at the boiling point of water; during the cooling process, the molten substance exhibits a lively
violet color in incident light, a yellow-green color in transmitted light; when cooling is complete, it
adopts a crystalline consistency again.” There is no doubt that using modern terminology, Planer
has observed selected reflection from a plane texture of cholesteric liquid crystal.”
Further references to the Planer’s 1861 paper can be found in textbooks [6–10]. Some of them
are:
1) Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by
Experiments by Patrick Oswald and Pavel Pieransky, Liquid Crystals Book Series, Vol. 4.
Published by CRS Press Taylor & Francis Group. In Part A of this book, Overview there
is Chapter A1 Some history, and on page 12 there is Section 1.3 titled “Observation of
the surprising behavior of cholesteryl esters by Planer and Reinitzer: thermotropic liquid
crystals”. It starts: “Friedel knew that liquid birefringent phases existed not only in solutions,
but also in pure bodies. Once more, it is the biologists who set the physicists on the right
track. The story begins with cholesterol, a substance extracted from plants. In the 19th
century, its chemical structure was still unknown; however, it was classified among alcohols,
since one could prepare cholesteryl esters by reaction with fatty acids. The biologist Planer in
1861 and Reinitzer in 1888 noticed its opaqueness and the iridescent colors exhibited by these
esters upon melting from the crystalline phase or upon cooling from the isotropic liquid”.
2) Liquid Crystals: Nature’s Delicate Phase of Matter by Peter J. Collings, 2nd Edition, Pub-
lished by Princeton University Press, 2002, 204 pages. In Chapter 2 of this book, The story
of liquid crystals, on page 20 there is a paragraph that reads: “The third type of experiment
performed in this time period was one with compound synthesized from cholesterol. P. Planer
in the city of Lvov (now part of Ukraine), the German chemist W. Lobisch and B. Raymann
in Paris all reported that this compound displayed striking colors when cooled. Although it
certainly was unusual phenomenon, none of these people had any idea that these colors were
coming from the phase of matter other than solid or liquid phase. As will be evident in the
next section, these observations were extremely similar to the experiments that forty years
later led directly to the discovery of liquid crystals”.
3) Liquid Crystals In Complex Geometries by G.P. Crawford and S. Zumer. Published by
Taylor & Francis Ltd, London. – 1996. In paragraph 8.2. of this book, Cholesteric liquid
1Translation by author.
37002-2
Planer’s 1861 paper “Note about Cholesterol”
crystals, on page 190: “Cholesteric liquid crystals with sufficiently short pitch show selective
reflection of circularly polarized light (de Vries, 1951). The discovery of liquid crystals (Planer
1861; Reinitzer, 1888) and one of their first applications were due to this phenomenon”.
4) Chirality in Liquid Crystals by H.-S. Kitzerow and C. Bahr. Partially Ordered Systems
Series. Published by Springer. – 2001. In Preface of this book there is: “Probably even the
first observation of liquid crystals by Planer (1861) and Reinitzer (1888) were due to the
conspicuous selective reflection of the helical structure that occurs in chiral liquid crystals”.
5) Physical properties of liquid crystals, Edited by D. Demus, J.W. Goodby, G.W. Gray,
H.W. Spiess and V. Vills, Wiley-VCH, 1999. In Chapter I of this book, Introduction and
Historical Development by G.W. Gray, on page 2 there is a paragraph that reads: “In his
article, Reinitzer acknowledges that other workers before him had observed curious color be-
havior in melts of cholesteryl systems. He mentions that Planer in Russia2 and Raymann in
Paris had noted violet colors reflected from cholesteryl chloride and that Lobish in Germany
had observed a bluish-violet fluorescence in the case of cholesteryl amine and cholesteryl
chloride”.
Summarizing, Planer’s observations described in 1861, i. e., an almost 150 years ago, are in good
agreement with the currently-known liquid crystalline phase behavior of commercially-available
cholesteryl chloride, which exhibits a monotropic cholesteric phase observed upon sample cooling.
Certainly, in his article, Planer does not use the modern terminology such as “cholesteric phase”,
“liquid crystal”, and “selective reflection”. Moreover, even chemical formula of cholesterol was not
known at that time. However, this Planer’s 1861 work seems to be the first documented observation
of the thermotropic liquid crystal and its phase behavior, and is equally important to the papers
of Reinitzer [1] and Lehmann [3].
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Longin Lisetski who raised this issue to the author during Soft Matter
Workshop at the Institute for Condensed Matter Physics in Lviv in 2008. Later this was discussed
by author with Ivan Smalyukh during 2009 visit to the Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center
at University of Colorado in Bolder.
References
1. Reinitzer F., Monatshefte für Chemie, 1888, 9, 421–441.
2. Planer J., Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, 1861, 118, 25–27.
3. Lehmann O. Über fliessende Krystalle. - Zeitschrift für Physikalishe Chemie, 1889, 4, 462-472.
4. Reinitzer F., Liquid Crystals, 1989, 5, 7–18.
5. Semynozhenko V.P., Lisetski L.N. Liquid Crystals: History, Problems and Perspectives. In: Jubilees of
Science, Naukova Dumka, Kiev, 1989, 191-203 [in russian].
6. Oswald P., Pieransky P., Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties
Illustrated by Experiments. Liquid Crystals Book Series, Vol. 4. CRS Press Taylor & Francis Group.
7. P.J. Collings, Liquid Crystals: Nature’s Delicate Phase of Matter, 2nd Edition. Princeton University
Press, 2002.
8. Crawford G.P., Zumer S., Liquid Crystals In Complex Geometries. Taylor & Francis Ltd, London,
1996.
9. Kitzerow H.-S., Bahr C., Chirality in Liquid Crystals Partially Ordered Systems Series. Springer, 2001.
10. Physical properties of liquid crystals, Edited by D. Demus, J.W. Goodby, G.W. Gray, H.W. Spiess,
V. Vills. Wiley-VCH, 1999.
2Planer used to work at the University in Lviv [called Lemberg in Planer’s 1861 paper] that belonged to Austrian
Empire at that time. Lviv never was a part of Russia. (A.T.)
37002-3
A. Trokhymchuk
До статтi 1861 року Юлiуса Планера “Замiтка про
холестерин”, опублiкованої у Annalen der Chemie und
Pharmacie
А. Трохимчук1,2
1 Iнститут фiзики конденсованих систем НАН України, 79011 Львiв, вул. Свєнцiцького, 1
2 Факультет хiмiї та бiохiмiї унiверситету Брiгама Янга, США
Короткий огляд лiтератури по iсторiї вiдкриття рiдких кристалiв та про роль спостережень, заното-
ваних Юлiусом Планером у його статтi, яка була опублiкована майже 150 рокiв тому.
Ключовi слова: iсторiя науки, хлорид холестерилу, монотропна холестерична рiдкокристалiчна
фаза
37002-4
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