RIGID-ROD POLYMERS AND MOLECULAR COMPOSITES

The last two decades of research on high performance rigid-rod polymers and molecular composites have produced a wide variety of material systems for evaluation. The purpose here is not to present a comprehensive review but rather to describe these relatively recent research developments with regard to the synthetic methods and approaches that have been utilized. In doing this some properties of the polymers are discussed as well as some of the problems encountered in conjunction with their synthesis and evaluation. In an effort to limit the scope of the review, we will address only aromatic heterocyclic rigid-rod polymers, extended chain polymers and derived molecular composites.