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A Liquid‐Crystalline Co‐Polysiloxane with Asymmetric Bent Side Chains |
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| Authors: | Alexej Bubnov Vladimíra Novotná Damian Pociecha Miroslav Kašpar Vĕra Hamplová Giancarlo Galli Milada Glogarová |
| Institution: | 1. Institute of Physics, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic;2. Laboratory of Dielectrics and Magnetics, Chemistry Department, Warsaw University, Al. Zwirki i Wigury 101, 02‐089 Warsaw, Poland;3. Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Via Risorgimento 35, 56126 Pisa, Italy |
| Abstract: | A co‐polysiloxane has been prepared with an asymmetric bent side group based on a liquid‐crystalline monomer showing a B2 (SmCP) phase. In order to dilute the side chain mesogens along the polymer backbone, octyl side chains were also incorporated. X‐ray studies confirmed that the resulting co‐polysiloxane exhibits a liquid‐crystalline layered phase, the siloxane polymer chains being microphase segregated from the incompatible side chain mesogens. The mesophase of polymer exhibits a homeotropic structure that can be successfully aligned by unidirectional shear. This phase does not exhibit polar switching under an applied electric field unlike the bent‐core monomer used as the side chains of this polymer. This can be caused by the homeotropic alignment of the polymer samples.  |
| Keywords: | calorimetry liquid‐crystalline polymers (LCP) monomers phase behavior polysiloxanes |