The cholesteric phase represents a unique situation in nature in that a highly colored material does not absorb incident radiation but transmits and scatters light selectively. The colors are not dependent upon specific electronic arrangements in the molecules as in the morke familiar dyes but, instead, are dependent on such factors as shape (steric factors) and dipole arragment. Thus, materials which exhibit cholesteric phases may be affected by a difference in carbon chain length or by the position occupied by a functional group.