Yellow‐light‐emitting cyano‐substituted poly[(1,3‐phenylene vinylene)‐alt‐(1,4‐phenylene vinylene)] derivative: Its synthesis and optical properties

A soluble cyano‐substituted poly[(1,3‐phenylene vinylene)‐alt‐(1,4‐phenylene vinylene)] derivative ( 9 ) was synthesized and characterized. Comparison between 9 and its model compound ( 10 ) showed that the chromophore in 9 remained to be well defined as a result of a π‐conjugation interruption at adjacent m‐phenylene units. The attachment of a cyano substituent only at the β position of the vinylene allowed the maximum electronic impact of the cyano group on the optical properties of the poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) material. At a low temperature (?108 or ?198 °C), the vibronic structures of 9 and 10 were partially resolved. The absorption and emission spectra of a film of 9 were less temperature‐dependent than those of a film of 10 , indicating that the former had a lower tendency to aggregate. A light‐emitting diode (LED) based on 9 emitted yellow light (λ_max ≈ 578 nm) with an external quantum efficiency of 0.03%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3149–3158, 2003     

Branched chain discotics Phase structure and orientation behaviour

Studies show that branching the side chains of hexakis(acoyloxy)-benzenes (HAB) and -cyclohexanes (HAChx) does not modify the structure of the discotic mesophase formed. Shear fields appear to act on entire columns, not on individual discs, thereby causing alignment of columns in the shear direction. X-ray diffraction patterns of samples at temperatures between 30°C and 40°C above the clearing temperature provide evidence for the presence of mesophase order.     

Short-range order in miscible polymer blends: A monte carlo study

Local ordering in miscible binary polymer blends with strong attractive interactions between the two types of chains was investigated by computer simulation of allowable conformations on an incompressible cubic lattice. A tendency toward maximum ordering (in which chains pack in alternate parallel rows) is shown by the calculation of pair correlations and in “snapshots” of the mixtures. A specific directional interaction is not necessarily required for ordering. A comparison of these results with those recently obtained using mean-field theory is presented. The heat capacity of mixing was also calculated and found to be positive, with a value close to that reported experimentally.     

Synthesis and electrical conductivity of poly(arylene vinylene). I. Poly(2,5-dimethoxyphenylene vinylene) and poly(2,5-dimethylphenylene vinylene)

The highly conjugated aromatic polymers, poly(2,5-dimethoxyphenylene vinylene) and poly(2,5-dimethylphenylene vinylene), were obtained from their water soluble, sulfonium salt precursor polymers. Films of these polymers were reacted with either AsF₅ or I₂ vapor. Poly(2,5-dimethoxyphenylene vinylene) showed increases in electrical conductivity of up to 14 to 15 orders of magnitude for these two dopants, while an 8 to 9 order of magnitude increase was observed for poly(2,5-dimethylphenylene vinylene) with the same dopants. The synthesis of the precursor polymers, the properties and elimination reactions of films of the precursors, the doping reactions, and the conductivities of the resulting phenylene vinylene films are discussed.     

DSC study of the effect of irradiation upon the glass transition temperature (T g) of polyethylene

The glass transition of an irradiated, ultra-high molecular weight, linear polyethylene was investigated by means of the Perkin-Elmer DSC-2 differential scanning calorimeter. The experimental specific heat data were compared with those of the nonirradiated sample, obtained by DSC and adiabatic calorimetry.     

The Effect of Molecular Weight on the Thermal Properties of Polystyrene-Based Sidechain Liquid-Crystalline Polymers

Abstract

Sidechain liquid-crystalline polymers were prepared by the derivatization of three poly(4-hydroxystyrene) fractions of different molecular weights (M_w = 1.0 × 10⁴, 2.2 × 10⁴ and 3.0 × 10⁴). 4-Cyanoazobenzene and 4-cyanobiphenyl were incorporated as mesogenic groups with ether-linked methylene spacers of varying length. The polymers all exhibited a smectic A phase, with the exception of the propyl member of the cyanobiphenyl series for which no liquid-crystalline behavior was observed. For short spacers the thermal properties were insensitive to molecular weight changes in the backbone, whereas small but consistent differences in the transition temperatures and entropies were observed as the number of methylene groups in the spacer increased.     

Random homogeneous sodium sulfonate polysulfone ionomers: Preparation,characterization, and blend studies

The sodium salts of randomly sulfonated polysulfone (Na-SPSF), derived from 1,1′-sulfonylbis-[4-chlorobenzene] with 4,4′-(1-methylethylidene)-bis-[phenol], were prepared over the composition range of 3–30 mol% sodium sulfonate, using improved procedures in which the sulfonating complex was introduced into an intensely agitated polymer solution. In contrast to earlier work, T_g was found to increase nonlinearly with sodium sulfonate content. A SAXS study provided no evidence of ionic clustering in these polymers. Binary blends of Na-SPSFs differing only in composition were prepared by casting films from solution, and their phase behavior was studied by dynamic mechanical analysis after annealing at 250°C. It was found that the blends were miscible up to a composition difference of about 9–10 mol% sodium sulfonate. Using this fact it was possible to calculate a value for χ_ABn of 200–250, where χ_AB represents the segmental interaction parameter between unmodified and modified repeat units, and n is the degree of polymerization. Uncertainty in the degree of ionic association places a degree of uncertainty on the effective value of n and therefore on χ_AB. The product, however, is independent of any assumptions regarding molecular associations.