United mesogens

Liquid crystalline polymers have been classified in a variety of ways according to the style of incorporation of mesogenic units in the molecules. The most basic types are shown in Figure 3.1, in which the squares are representative of mesogenic units. Mesogenic units are structural moieties with sufficient rigidity and are mostly in the shape of straight rods. Other... 

An interesting new development uses liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) to produce materials with exceptional physical and mechanical properties. Generally the LCP resin comprises of a polymer chain with structural units (mesogenic groups) which can be incorporated into the polymer backbone, or incorporated as a pendant group, or both. One approach is to use the epoxy resin system [18] ... 

To understand why the effect of increasing the spacer length in a dimer appears anomalous we must first consider why smectic phases form. Smectic phase formation may be considered in terms of a microphase separation in which the mesogenic units form one domain while the alkyl chains constitute another. There are two possible driving forces behind this separation energetically if the mean of the mesogenic unit-mesogenic unit and chain-chain interactions is more favorable than the... 

Most polymeric Hquid crystals are based on stiff rod-like molecular units which are called calamitic mesogens. There are some unusual polymers (which are not discussed here) that contain flat disk-like molecular units called discotic mesogens in which the disks form columnar arrays like stacks of poker chips. 

Only a few building blocks are available for the synthesis of ester-containing rigid mesogenic units, namely dihydroxy-, dicarboxy-, or (hydroxy, carboxy)-l,4-phenylenes, 4,4,-biphenylenes, and 2,6-, 1,4-, or 1,5-naphthylenes (Table 2.15). 

TABLE 2.15 Building Blocks Used in Main-Chain Polyester LCP Mesogenic Units... 

Macromolecules dendritic, 285 hyperbranched, 284-286 Main-chain liquid crystalline polymers, 49 Main-chain polyester LCP mesogenic units, 50... 

Hartung and Rapthel [64] described the crystal structure of the mesogenic 2-methylthio-5-(4 -n-butyloxyphenyl)-pyrimidine which forms a monotropic smectic A phase. The chemical structure of this compound is presented in Fig. 5. The compound crystallises in the triclinic space group PI with two molecules per unit cell. The molecules adopt a fully stretched and nearly planar form. The pyrimidine ring is nearly planar. The dihedral angle between the phenyl and the pyrimidine rings is 22.7°. The molecules are arranged parallel to each other. 

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). 

In general terms, high molar mass liquid crystals are classified according to the location of the mesogenic unit in the polymer. Thus, they are either incorporated into the main chain (main-chain liquid crystal polymers - MCLCP Fig. 5A) or they are pendant from the main chain (side-chain liquid crystal polymers - SCLCP Fig. 5B). 

Poly(epichlorohydrin) (PECH) and poly(2,6 - dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) containing pendant mesogenic units separated form the main chain through spacers of zero to ten methylene units were synthesized and characterized in order to test the "spacer concept." Both polymers were modified by phase transfer catalyzed esterifications of the chloromethyl groups (PECH) or the bromobenzyl groups (brominated PPO) with potassium co -(4-oxybiphenyl) alkanoates and potassium u-(4-methoxy-4-oxybiphenyl)-alk.an oates. While PPO required ten methylene units as a spacer and 4,4 -methoxybiphenyl as mesogen to present thermotropic liquid crystalline mesomorphism,... 

In order to determine the necessity and/or the length of the spacer that is required to achieve liquid crystalline behavior from flexible vs. rigid polymers, we have introduced mesogenic units to the backbones of a rigid [poly(2,6-dimethyl-l,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO)] and a flexible [poly(epichlorohydrin) (PECH)] polymer through spacers of from 0 to 10 methylene groups via polymer analogous reactions. 

The attachment of mesogenic units to a polymer backbone via polymer analogous reactions is not a new concept, although they are much less frequently used than the polymerization of mesogen containing monomers. Liquid crystalline polyacrylates,... 

The mesogenic units with methylenic spacers were prepared by reacting the sodium salt of either 4-methoxy-4 -hydroxybiphenyl or 4-phenylphenol with a bromoester in DMF at 82° C for at least 4 hours in the presence of tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate (TBAH) as phase transfer catalyst. In this way, ethyl 4-(4-oxybi-phenyl)butyrate, ethyl 4-(4-methoxy-4 -oxybiphenyl)butyrate, ethyl 4-(4-oxybiphenyl)valerate, ethyl 4-(4-methoxy-4 -oxybiphenyl)-valerate, n-propyl 4-(4-oxybiphenyl)undecanoate and n-propyl 4-(4-methoxy-4 -oxybiphenyl)undecanoate were obtained. These esters were hydrolyzed with base and acidified to obtain the carboxylic acids. The corresponding potassium carboxylates were obtained by reaction with approximately stoichiometric amounts of potassium hydroxide. Experimental details of these syntheses were described elsewhere (27). 

In contrast to the substituted PPO s, It Is theoretically possible to obtain the same substituted PECH s by homopolymerization of the corresponding mesogenic oxirane, or by its copolymerization with epichlorohydrin. We have attempted these polymerizations in order to better interpret the thermal behavior of the more complicated copolymers that we have obtained by polymer analogous reactions. Homopolymerization would be instructive because the incorporation of nonmesogenic units into liquid crystalline homopolymers doesn t as a rule change the type of mesophase obtained (5). 

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