A liquid crystalline material is called lyotropic if the ordering effects in it are induced by changing its concentration within a solvent. Examples are suspensions of rod-like viruses as the Tobacco Mosaic Virus as well as man-made colloidal suspensions of non-spherical colloidal particles. Other examples include DNA and Kevlar, which dissolves in sulfuric acid to give a lyotropic phase.

Chemical properties | Phases of matter