Based on the C30H61OH C2/c unit cell with 'staircase' packing, the 00ℓ are expected to be absent. The experimental data shows good agreement with a simulated diffraction pattern from the C30H61OH C2/c unit cell oriented along [2 0 45], confirming the chains lie flat on the support film in these samples. The 'staircase' offset in the chain ends explains the loss of 00ℓ packing, similarly to the nematic phases in n-alkanes. Weak 00ℓ spots were observed in a single example of a 'chains-flat' C30H61OH crystal (Figure ). The simulated patterns for 'chainsflat' for the P2/c and P21/c unit cells both suggest the presence of 00ℓ spots as these unit cells have a higher degree of symmetry than seen in the C2/c unit cell. As with the alkane, it may be the benzoic acid templating induces a different molecular packing arrangement to solution crystallization. Alternatively, the lack of 00ℓ spots in most alcohol SAED patterns may be due to disordered chain packing in the form of nematic phases derived from the P2/c and P21/c unit cells (as opposed to ordered staircase packing). This is particularly true given that 00ℓ spots were not universally observed in 'chains-flat' C31H64 crystals either, despite all unit cell descriptions establishing lamellar packing as the preferred molecular packing arrangement in the n-alkanes.