Spacer combined polymers

The steric frustrations have also been detected in LC polymers [66-68]. For example, the smectic A phase with a local two-dimensional lattice was found by Endres et al. [67] for combined main chain/side chain polymers containing no terminal dipoles, but with repeating units of laterally branched mesogens. A frustrated bilayer smectic phase was observed by Watanabe et al. [68] in main-chain polymers with two odd numbered spacers sufficiently differing in their length (Fig. 7). 

Fig. 9.18 The polymer spacer concept for the construction of a biomimetic cell membrane on solids. Mesogenic units, coupling groups and the flexible polymer can be combined either in form of a statistical terpolymer (above). Variation of the ratio of the three monomers allows an easy tuning of the system. In an alternative system, an end-functio-nalized linear hydrophilic polymer chain bearing a coupling group at the proximal and the mesogen at the distal end was employed.

SCLCPs combine liquid crystalline properties and polymeric behavior in one material. If the mesogenic unit is fixed directly to the polymer main chain, the motion of the liquid crystalline side chain is coupled with the motion of the polymer backbone, preventing the formation of a LC mesophase. Therefore, Finkelmann and Ringsdorf proposed that the introduction of a flexible spacer between the main chain and the mesogenic unit would decouple their motions, allowing the mesogenic moiety to build up an orientational order [29,30]. 

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