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Synthesis and characterization of side‐chain liquid‐crystalline elastomers containing cholesterol
Author(s) -
He XiaoZhi,
Xiao LingJiu,
Zhang BaoYan,
Xiao WenQiang
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.22197
Subject(s) - mesophase , materials science , mesogen , differential scanning calorimetry , elastomer , liquid crystal , polymer , monomer , polymer chemistry , polymerization , glass transition , phase (matter) , side chain , phase transition , chemical engineering , composite material , organic chemistry , chemistry , liquid crystalline , thermodynamics , physics , optoelectronics , engineering
A series of new smectic and cholesteric liquid‐crystalline elastomers were prepared by graft polymerization of mesogenic monomer with the chiral and nonmesogenic crosslinking agent using polymethylhydrosiloxane as backbone. The chemical structures of the monomers and polymers obtained were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. The mesomorphic properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy, and X‐ray diffraction measurements. M 1 showed cholesteric phase during the heating and the cooling cycle. Polymer P 1 , elastomers P 2 and P 3 exhibited smectic phase, elastomers P 4 P 6 showed chiral smectic C phase, P 7 showed cholesteric phase, and P 8 displayed stress‐induced birefringence. The elastomers containing less than 15 mol % M 2 displayed elasticity and reversible phase transition with wide mesophase temperature ranges. Experimental results demonstrated that the glass transition temperatures, the isotropization temperatures, and the mesophase temperature ranges decreased with increasing content of the crosslinking unit. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 383–390, 2005