A series of liquid crystalline acrylic polymers obtained by a novel electrically induced polymerization method

The synthesis and phase characterization of a homologous series of polymers possessing high molecular weight of acrylic phenyl benzoates has been carried out using a novel polymerization method. The characterization comprises polarized optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and wide-angle X-ray scattering. All polymers are mesogenic, exhibiting either nematic and/or smectic phase depending on chain length. Polymers phases are enantiotropic unlike the starting monomers which are predominantly monotropic. Shorter monomers yield nematogenic and monolayer smectogenic polymers while longer monomers yield polymers with a tilted bilayer smectogenic character. The transition from monolayer to bilayer was observed when a monomer with a terminal chain length of five carbon atoms was polymerized.

Automated summary

A series of acrylic phenyl benzoate polymers with high molecular weight were synthesized and characterized using a novel polymerization method. Characterization methods included polarized optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and wide-angle X-ray scattering. All polymers exhibited liquid crystal phases, with some showing nematic phases and others showing smectic phases depending on the chain length. The transition from monolayer to bilayer smectic phase was observed when polymerizing a monomer with a terminal chain length of five carbon atoms.