Journal
LIQUID CRYSTALS
Volume 46, Issue 6, Pages 825-834Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/02678292.2018.1530386
Keywords
Liquid crystals; methacrylate monomers; side-chain polymers; smectic and columnar phases; X-ray diffraction; small-angle diffuse scattering
Funding
- Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research [16-29-05140]
- Russian Science Foundation [14-13-00379]
- Czech Science Foundation [16-12150S]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The chiral methacrylate monomers with photosensitive azobenzene group possessing the orthogonal smectic A* and tilted smectic C* (Sm-C*) phases have been synthesised and characterised. The monomers have been used as functional side chains for the design of corresponding polymethacrylates. X-ray diffraction has been applied to elucidate the structure and phase behaviour of liquid-crystalline side-chain polymethacrylates with azobenzene-containing central core, chiral fragments and aliphatic spacers and tails of different length. X-ray patterns of polymethacrylates oriented fibres impose the tilted Sm-C* order as a basic structure of these materials. This is complemented by a regular pattern of small-angle diffuse spots, which implies complex positional order on the local scale and serves as a precursor for the formation of a columnar phase. The increase of the total length of the aliphatic tail and spacer of the side-chain fragments leads to formation of the tilted columnar phase (Col(tilt)*) with two-dimensional monoclinic lattice. For the polymer containing 10 methylene units in both, spacer and aliphatic tail, the Col(tilt)* precedes the formation of the Sm-C* phase. The observed structural changes are explained as due to coupling between the smectic ordering of the mesogenic side groups and the polymer backbone conformation. [GRAPHICS] .
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available