Synthesis and phase behaviour of a homologous series of polymethacrylate-based side-chain liquid crystal polymers

Cook, A. G., Inkster, R. T., Martinez-Felipe, A., Ribes-Greus, A., Hamley, I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4549-0926 and Imrie, C. T. (2012) Synthesis and phase behaviour of a homologous series of polymethacrylate-based side-chain liquid crystal polymers. European Polymer Journal, 48 (4). pp. 821-829. ISSN 0014-3057 doi: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2012.01.021

Abstract/Summary

The homologous series of side chain liquid crystal polymers, the poly[x-(4-methoxyazobenzene- 40-oxy)alkyl methacrylate]s, has been prepared in which the length of the flexible alkyl spacer has been varied from 3 to 11 methylene units. All the polymers exhibit liquid crystalline behaviour. The propyl and butyl members show exclusively nematic behaviour. The pentyl, hexyl, octyl and decyl members show a nematic and a smectic A phase while the heptyl, nonyl and undecyl homologues exhibit only a smectic A phase. The smectic A phase has been studied using X-ray diffraction and assigned as a smectic A1 phase in which the side chains are fully overlapped and the backbones are confined to lie between the smectic layers. For the nonyl member an incommensurate smectic phase is observed. The dependence of the transition temperatures on the length of the flexible spacer is understood in terms of the average shapes of the side chains.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/27783
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2012.01.021
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Chemical Analysis Facility (CAF)
Publisher	Elsevier
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