The stereospecific solvation of non-polar organic solutes in liquid benzene.

The molar Cotton-Mouton constants of several non-polar and axially symmetric solutes have been measured in both benzene and carbon tetrachloride. Differences between the Cotton-Mouton constants of the same solute in these two solvents are largely attributable to angular correlations between the solute and the benzene molecules. Hexafluorobenzene and 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene reveal pronounced tendencies towards parallel alignment of solute and neighbouring benzene molecules.