Liquid Crystalline Copolymers Containing Sulfonic and Light-Responsive Groups: From Molecular Design to Conductivity.

ABSTRACT: In the search for novel smart multifunctional liquid crystalline materials, we report the synthesis, thermal and structural characterisation, and the conductivity, of a set of new block and statistical copolymers, containing light-responsive mesogenic groups (MeOAzB), polar sulfonic acids (AMPS), and methyl(methacrylate) groups (MMA). By using a cascade of reversible addition-fragmentation chain polymerisations, RAFT, we have tailored different side-chain polymeric structures by controlling monomer composition (MeOAzB/AMPS/MMA) and configuration. We have yielded simultaneous liquid crystalline behaviour and appreciable conductivity in polymers with low concentrations of polar acid groups, by the formation of smectic phases in narrow aggregates. The light-responsiveness of the polymers, via

SUBMITTER: Alauddin SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7321325 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature