Effects of main chain and acceptor content on phase behaviors of hydrogen-bonded main-chain/side-chain combined liquid crystalline polymers

摘要

Main-chain/side-chain combined liquid crystalline polymers (MCSCLCPs) are usually difficult to synthesize and their degrees of polymerization are relatively low, which bring difficulties in studying their structureeproperty relationships. In order to solve this problem, we prepared a new series of MCSCLCPs containing mesogen-jacketed liquid crystalline polymer (MJLCP) main chains via hydrogen-bonding (H-B). A pyridine derivative with a triphenylene (Tp) unit is the H-B acceptor. In addition to the temperature dependence, the phase behavior of the resulting complex is strongly influenced by the content of the H-B acceptor and the rigidity of the side-chain core of the MJLCP. The resulting complexes exhibit different phase structures: (1) a columnar nematic phase or a smectic A (SmA) phase formed by the supramolecular MJLCP chain as a whole; (2) hierarchical nanostructures including a hexagonal columnar phase or a SmA phase of the whole polymer chain plus a discotic nematic phase associated with the Tp moieties. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.