Mesophase formation in lyotropic polymers

Summary The behaviour of polymers for which the mesomorphic property is primarily related to rigidity or partial rigidity of the chain backbone is discussed. The former part of the paper includes an outline of current theories, which describe the phase equilibria of both low-and high-molecular-weight mesogens in the undiluted and diluted states. In the latter part of the paper phase behaviours of rigid and semi-rigid polymers are briefly reviewed. Detailed phase diagrams are considered for the systems poly-γ-benzyl-L-glutamate/dimethylformamide and poly-p-benzamide/dimethylacetamide-LiCl. The correlations between experiments and theory are discussed. The mesomorphic behaviour of cellulose and its derivatives and ternary systems involving two rodlike solutes or mixtures of rodlike and random coiled polymers are also considered. Experimental results provide substantial confirmation for the theoretical predictions of mesophase formation in lyotropic polymers. Paper presented at the ?Meeting on Lyotropics and Related Fields”, held in Rende, Cosenza, September 13–18, 1982.