Photo-induced liquid crystal alignment on imide oligomer containing cinnamate group

In this paper, the synthesis, photo-reaction and photo-induced liquid crystal alignment of a imide oligomer with a terminated cinnamate group are reported. The imide oligomer was synthesized by the chemical imidization of the polyamic acid derived from 3,3',4,4'-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride, 4,4'-oxydianiline, and 4-aminophenol followed by the attachment of the cinnamate group to the imide oligomer. The thermal stability of the photo-induced liquid crystal alignment of non-fluorinated imide oligomer with terminated cinnamated groups was enhanced and this might be attributed to the strong interchain interaction of imide chains which prevents thermal randomization of the photo-product of the terminated cinnamates. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.