Syntheses and Properties of Side Chain Liquid Crystalline Polymers with Cholesteryl and Azobenzene Functional Groups

Side-chain liquid crystalline polymers with various compositions of azobenzene and cholesteryl functional groups as the mesogenic moiety were synthesized by direct polycondensation, and their properties were investigated. The inherent viscosity values of synthesized polymers were between 0.32 and 0.38 dL/g in 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane. All polymers except the SP-A10C0 polymer containing only the azobenzene group were amorphous or exhibited very low crystallinity due to the presence of bulky mesogenic side chains. All synthesized polymers exhibited enantiotropic liquid crystallinity; the SP-A10C0 polymer having only the azobenzene group exhibited a nematic phase, and all other polymers showed a cholesteric phase. In particular, it was found that when the content of cholesteryl groups in the side chain of the polymer increases, the liquid crystallinity decreases due to the bulkiness of cholesteryl groups.