SYNTHESES AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW TYPE OF LIQUID CRYSTALLINE POLYESTERS

A new type of liquid crystalline polyesters with resorcin as one part of the mesogenic unitconnected together by polymethylene, or phenylene group, and lateral groups consisting of arigid azobenzene as another part of the mesogenic unit were synthesized by interfacialpolymerization of diacyl chlorides in 1, 2-dichloroethane and 2, 4-dihydroxy-4'-nitroazobenzen inaqueous alkaline solution. The polyester structures were confirmed by proton NMR and IRspectra. Their phase transition behavior and texture were studied by polarizing microscopy andDSC.     

Synthesis and phase behaviour of liquid-crystalline side group polyesters

Several series of liquid-crystalline side group polymers with a polyester backbone structure have been synthesized using mesogenic diethylmalonate and 1,3-propanediol derivatives. The structures of the polymer backbone and the mesogenic units have been varied systematically. As shown by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing microscopy and X-ray diffraction, the side group polyesters exhibit nematic and/or smectic mesophases. Polyesters synthesized from mesogenic diethylmalonate derivatives can tolerate long non-mesogenic segments in the polymer main chain without losing their liquid crystal properties. X-ray studies suggest that some of the smectic polymers exhibit interdigitated bilayer S_A phases.     

POLYMER SCAFFOLDS BEARING AZOBENZENE-POTENTIAL FOR OPTICAL INFORMATION STORAGE

The fundamental optical storage mechanism of the laser light eddressable azobenzene moiety is briefly introduced.A modular and flexible synthesis design furnishes polyester matrices covalently integrating cyanoazobenzene in regularlyspaced side chains. Thin films of these materials are particularly well suited for holographic storape. Notable figures of meritsof liquid crystalline polyesters are response time to blue-green laser light of the order of nanoseconds, storage capacityexpressed as 5000 lines/mm, and high, permanent (almost nine years) diffraction efficiency of the order of 50% or greater,and erasability, The implications of the main chain nature for polyester morphology and for the permanency of the inducedanisotropy are discussed, The design and methods of preparation of other significantly different polymer scaffolds supportingcyanoazobenzene are elaborated. Oligopeptides always result in amorphous materials, whereas copolymethacrylates anddendritic or hyperbranched polyesters provide some materials that exhibit liquid crystallinity. However, none of these scaffolds affords materials that result in permanent anisotropy when exposed to interfering laser light.     

Hydroxy-functionalized liquid-crystalline polyazomethines I. Synthesis, characterization and structure-mesogenic behaviour relationship

A new series of polyazomethines based on hydroxy-functionalized mesogenic units has been synthesized and characterized. Different structural variations have been checked in order to obtain mesogenic polyazomethines with low melting temperatures and a broad nematic range. Completely conjugated mesogenic units with a lateral substituent or alteration of coaxiality are shown to be the most suitable structural variations. No mesogenic behaviour was observed for polyazomethines with a flexible mesogenic core due to unfavourable conformational equilibrium. Polyazomethines have complex thermal behaviour and show an increase in the degree of polymerization on annealing.     

Linear polyesters containing isocyanurate rings

Two series of linear polyesters containing isocyanurate rings have been prepared to determine the effect of structural variations on thermal and solubility properties. The polyesters were prepared by the polycondensation reaction of isocyanurate containing difunctional acid and ester monomers with linear diols. The substituent on the isocyanurate ring and the length of the acid side chain have been shown to have considerable effect on the glass transition temperature T_g. Different solubility properties were observed for the series of polyesters in which the pendant substituent was ? C₆H₅ and the acid side-chain was ? CH₂CO₂H. These polymers were insoluble in THF, and the polyester prepared from 1,6-hexanediol was also insoluble in chloroform. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that structural differences had no significant effect on the thermal stability of these linear polyesters.     

Influence of lateral substituents on thermal behavior and solubility of aromatic LC-polyesters

Structure - property relations of substituted para-linked aromatic homopolyesters are reported. Thermotropic liquid-crystalline substituted poly (1,4-phenylene terephthalate)s with phase transition temperatures less than 230 °C and good solubility in common organic solvents have been synthesized. If a noncoplanar 2,2′-disubstituted biphenylene moietyis combined with a monosubstituted phenylene moiety with sufficient bulky substituent, polyester with similar properties were obtained. Although these polyesters are soluble up to high concentrations, no lyotropic liquid-crystalline behavior was observable.     

Liquid crystal polymers. IV. Thermotropic polyesters with flexible spacers in the main chain

Two closely related series of polyesters that contain mesogenic units interconnected by flexible spacers along the main chain were prepared and characterized for their liquid crystal properties. All of these polymers showed theotropic behavior, which was examined by DSC, hot-stage microscopy on a polarizing microscope, small-angle light and wide-angle x-ray scattering methods, and visual observation of stir-opalescence of the polymer melts. The effect of the length of the flexible spacer and the nature of the substituent, which is on the central aromatic ring of the mesogenic unit, on the stability and molecular order of the mesophase for each of the polymers was investigated and the results are discussed on the basis of the thermodynamic data obtained.     

The Azobenzene Optical Storage Puzzle – Demands on the Polymer Scaffold?

Summary.  The basic mechanism of optical information storage utilizing the azobenzene photoaddressable moiety will briefly be introduced. A synthetically flexible polyester matrix covalently integrating cyanoazobenzene in regularly spaced side chains is particularly well suited for holographic storage. Notable figures of merits of thin film materials of liquid crystalline polyesters are: response time to laser light in the order of ns, storage capacity of 5000 lines/mm, high permanent (more than eight years) diffraction efficiency in the order of 50% or higher, and erasability. The implications of the nature of the main chain on polyester morphology and on the permanency of the induced anisotropy are discussed. Arguments for the design and methods of preparation of other very different polymer scaffolds supporting the cyanoazobenzene are elucidated. Whereas oligopeptides invariably form amorphous materials, both copolymethacrylates and dendritic or hyperbranched polyesters provide some materials that exhibit liquid crystallinity. However, none of these other scaffolds offer materials that allow long-lasting anisotropy to be laser light induced. Received June 23, 2000. Accepted (revised) August 18, 2000     

Side chain liquid crystalline diethanolamine‐based polyesters with methoxy and/or nitroazobenzene mesogenic moieties

Side‐chain polyesters based on diethanolamine and 5‐hydroxyisophthalic acid with mesogenic methoxyazobenzene and nitroazobenzene groups were synthesized and their liquid crystalline properties were examined.

Four different types of polyesters were prepared by using various combinations of monomers differing in the mesogen group and the length of the spacer. The thermal and structural properties depend on the type of polyester as well as on the side chain length. The glass transition and isotropization temperatures increase when the methoxyazobenzene group is bound to a diol and decrease when it is bound to an isophthalic acid. Most of the polyesters are thermotropic liquid crystals and form a nematic phase on heating. Some polyesters exhibit shear induced isotropisation to nematic transition up to 25°C above the isotropization temperature.     

Side chain liquid crystalline diethanolamine-based polyesters with methoxy and/or nitroazobenzene mesogenic moieties

Side-chain polyesters based on diethanolamine and 5-hydroxyisophthalic acid with mesogenic methoxyazobenzene and nitroazobenzene groups were synthesized and their liquid crystalline properties were examined.

Four different types of polyesters were prepared by using various combinations of monomers differing in the mesogen group and the length of the spacer. The thermal and structural properties depend on the type of polyester as well as on the side chain length. The glass transition and isotropization temperatures increase when the methoxyazobenzene group is bound to a diol and decrease when it is bound to an isophthalic acid. Most of the polyesters are thermotropic liquid crystals and form a nematic phase on heating. Some polyesters exhibit shear induced isotropisation to nematic transition up to 25°C above the isotropization temperature.     

Dynamic x-ray diffraction studies of liquid-crystalline polyesters

Mesophase transitions in liquid-crystalline (LC) polyesters were studied by dynamic x-ray diffraction using a synchrotron radiation source. Powder and fiber samples were examined by continuous heating from 50°C to 270°C in a hot stage. The polymer systems consisted of two types of thermotropic polyesters with mesogenic cores composed of combinations of substituted terephthalate, oxybenzoate and hydroquinone units combined with aliphatic spacers placed in the main chain. One of these samples was a chemically homogeneous LC polyester (HTH12) while the other LC polyester possessed chemical heterogeneity (BP6). BP6 could also be processed to form fibers which showed thermal transition behavior by x-ray diffraction and no detectable melting or clearing transition by thermal measurements. LC textures were observed using polarized light microscopy. Results of the dynamic x-ray diffraction studies of these two LC polymers are described.     

Side-chain liquid crystalline polyesters derived from diethylmalonate and/or 1,3-propanediol

A series of azo monomers for polycondensation have been synthesized and characterized. These monomers, which contain electron-donor or acceptor substituents, have been condensed with aliphatic monomers to obtain two different series of aliphatic main-chain polyesters with pendant mesogenic groups. The polymers display nematic or smectic phases depending on the structural modifications of pendant mesogenic groups and the length of the flexible main-chain. In addition to these series, two polyesters with a high concentration of side pro-mesogenic groups have been synthesized. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

New polyarylates with nonlinear T-shaped mesogenic groups and variable hinge heteroatoms

The synthesis and comparative study of mesomorphic properties of aromatic polyesters containing the nonlinear T-shaped mesogenic sequences based on 1,4-dihydroxy-2-benzoylbenzene and hinge heteroatoms—oxygen (polyester I) or sulfur (polyester II)—have been performed. Polyester II lacks liquid-crystalline properties, in contrast to the oxygen-containing analog I demonstrating the mesomorphic behavior. In the case of polyester II samples, there is a large scatter in dynamooptical characteristics estimated in dilute N-methylpyrrolidone solutions. This behavior of polyester II is apparently associated with restriction of intramolecular mobility because of interaction between valence shells of sulfur atoms giving rise to bridge S···S bonds.     

Unusual photo-induced behaviour in a side chain liquid crystalline azo-polyester

An unusual behaviour has been observed in the photo-induced response of an azobenzene side chain liquid crystalline polyester (P6d4). Room temperature irradiation with linearly polarised 488 nm light does not induce any birefringence (Δn) in films of this polymer that have been quenched from the isotropic state. However, using the same irradiation conditions Δn is induced in quenched films that have been kept in darkness for a few minutes. Besides, no photo-induced Δn is observed in films irradiated with 488 nm light that have been previously irradiated with UV light. In this case, Δn can be recorded if the UV irradiated films have been kept in darkness for several hours. In another set of experiments performed with the P6d4 polymer, irradiation with high intensity linearly polarised 488 nm light induces an initial increase of Δn and then it goes back to zero. Subsequent irradiation with linearly polarised 633 nm light induces an orientation of the azobenzene chromophores perpendicular to the polarisation of the 488 nm light and independent of the 633 nm light polarisation direction. These results are very different from those obtained in other side chain polyesters which only differ from P6d4 in the end substituent. The anomalous behaviour of P6d4 is discussed in terms of a supercooling effect of the isotropic phase, the trans to cis back isomerization, the trans aggregation kinetics and a memory effect associated with the main chain orientation.     

A monotropic liquid crystal polyester with a biphasic nematic-smectic phase

The polyesters made from the condensation of isophthalic acid (IA) or terephthalic acid (TA) with the mesogenic diol 4,4′-bis (6-hydroxy hexoxy)biphenyl (BHHBP) are both reported to show a smectic mesophase. However, in our previous work, we found evidence for a mesophase in the polyester containing BHHBP and IA, but not in the one with BHHBP and TA. For the BHHBP-IA polyester, we thought the phase sequence on cooling was I → S_A → K, while on heating the situation was unresolved; there was some indication that on heating, a K → I transition occurs without any intervening mesophase. In other words, it was suspected that the mesophase in the IA polyester was monotropic. In this work, we have now obtained firm evidence that the mesophase behavior of the BHHBP-IA polyester is indeed monotropic. Further, an additional complexity has been found: on cooling, there is in fact a nematic phase, besides a smectic A, and a crystal phase. However, the mesophase appears to be complex. As the nematic and smectic textures occurred simultaneously, it seems that the mesophase is a nematic-smectic biphase. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Photochromic liquid-crystalline polymers. Main chain and side chain polymers containing azobenzene mesogens

Abstract

Two classes of thermotropic polymers were synthesized containing the trans-azobenzene unit as both a mesogenic and a photochromic group. In the former class (I) the azobenzene unit is incorporated into the main chain of substituted polymalonates, while in the latter class (II) it is appended as a side chain substituent to a polyacrylate backbone. The liquid-crystalline properties of the polymers were studied as a function of the chemical structure. All of the prepared polymers I have smectic phases. Polymers II are nematic and/or smectic, or cholesteric when including a chiral residue R'. Polymers I and II when radiated at 348 nm in chloroform solution undergo trans-to-cis isomerization of the azobenzene moiety. The calculated rate constants are comparable with those of low molar mass model compounds, and indicate that the macromolecular structure does not significantly affect the photoisomerization rate.     

Influence de la structure sur les proprietes mesomorphes des polyesters—II

Several new thermotropic liquid crystalline polyesters have been synthesized. The influences of various rigid, mesogenic parts of the macromolecule on the transition temperatures have been studied.     

The liquid crystalline behaviour of ferrocene derivatives containing azo and imine linking groups

The synthesis and mesogenic properties of some Schiff bases containing ferrocene, azobenzene units and flexible end chains with 17 or 18 carbon atoms are reported. The compounds have been characterized by ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy, DSC and optical microscopy in polarized light.     

Sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation of linear,substituted and cyclic polyesters using a 9.4 T Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer

The fragment ions obtained from sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation of linear polyesters, substituted polyesters and cyclic polyesters have been characterized using a 9.4 T Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. Charge-induced and charge-remote fragmentation channels, together with the participation of other nucleophilic groups, are proposed for the substituted polyesters. The linear polyesters were found to fragment at equivalent positions along the polymer chain whereas, under the experimental conditions employed, the cyclic polyester produced a single fragment.     

Elastic deformations in a magnetic field of a liquid-crystalline polymer with mesogenic groups in the main and side chains

Orientational elastic deformations in a magnetic field and phase transition temperatures of a thermotropically mesogenic “combined” aromatic polyester with mesogenic groups, both in the main and in the side chains, have been investigated in the range of 900 to 10,200 mol. wt. It was shown that in this molecular weight range the birefringence of a completely oriented nematic and correspondingly, the degree of its orientational order S are independent on molecular weight. When the relative temperature ΔT changes from −2 to −30°C the orientational order parameter increases from 0.35 to 0.55. The bend elasticity constants K₃ coincide in the order of magnitude with those for high and low molecular weight nematics investigated previously and their dependence on molecular weight has not been detected.