Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has provided a unique opportunity to study the characteristic smectic-A to chiral nematic phase transition in a dimesogenic liquid crystal("KI-5S"). The order parameters in the liquid crystalline phases were obtained from the H-2 NMR quadrupole splitting and C-13 NMR chemical shift measurements, manifesting a first-order smectic-nematic phase transition. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.