Investigations on the texture and structure of crystalline and liquid-crystalline phases of a side group polyacrylate with a biphenyl mesogenic moiety

Polyacrylates and polymethacrylates with mesogenic side groups have been synthesized for a structural investigation by observations of textures and by X-ray diagrams of smectic and crystalline phases. With the preparation of well developed textures, characteristic features of the various phases were recognized and related to different structures. Changes of textures within one phase and at the phase transition were studied. Various crystalline modifications, dependent on sample treatment and transformations, were identified by different textures. X-ray diffraction experiments on analogously treated samples confirmed and completed the results of the optical investigations. The results for one polymeric compound are represented and discussed in detail.