SYNTHESIS OF NOVEL LIQUID CRYSTALLINE POLY(METH)ACRYLATES CONTAINING SILOXANE SPACER AND TERPHENYLENE MESOGENIC UNIT

Novel side-chain liquid-crystalline poly(meth)acrylates were synthesized using 1-(3-hydroxyl-propyl)-3-[(4"-cyano-p-terphenyloxycarbonyl)alkyl]-1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane as the key intermediate. The polymers used a disiloxanemoiety as decoupling spacer with cyano-p-terphenyl as mesogenic unit. The products were characterized by NMR, GPC,DSC and polarizing optical microscopy. All the polymers with cyano-p-terphenyl mesogens formed a stable mesophase.However, if the mesogenic unit is replaced by cyano-p-biphenyl, the liquid crystalline character will be lost. The results alsoshowed that the decoupling is incomplete even if a complex and very flexible decoupling spacer is deliberately incorporatedto obtain the highest possible decoupling effect.