Thermal Analysis of the Conformational Disorder in SCLC Polymers with Rigid Backbone Glass transition studies

Bis [(ω-(4′-cyanobiphenyl)-4-yl)oxy-n-alkyl]norborn-5-ene-2,3-dicarboxylate was polymerised via ring opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP). Two disubstituted polynorbornene derivatives both of cis configuration with different length of the side-chain were studied. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to study the effect of thermal history on the assignment of the glass transition event associated with the biaxial orientation of a smectic phase. Glass transition temperatures, the change of isobaric specific heats at T_g and the enthalpies of isotropisation were calculated. The DSC traces only show the classic step-wise change in T_g in some cases, giving the evidence that the amorphous domains are constrained and highly restricted in movement due to the morphology developed as a result of the biaxial stretching. Based on the literature data of mono- and disubstituted polynorbornene derivatives and our calorimetric experiments, the shape of T_g dependence on number of (CH₂) units is interpreted. The origin of this shape is discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.