LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE IONOMERS .1. MAIN-CHAIN LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE POLYMER CONTAINING PENDANT SULFONATE GROUPS

Liquid crystalline polymers containing sodium sulfonate groups pendant to the polymer backbone were synthesized by an interfacial condensation reaction of brilliant yellow, a sulfonate-containing monomer, with 4,4'-dihydroxy-alpha,alpha'-dimethylbenzalazine and a 50/50 mixture of sebacoyl and dodecanedioyl dichlorides. Polymers containing up to ca. 4 mol % brilliant yellow were characterized by elemental analysis and ultraviolet spectroscopy. The polymers were thermally stable to about 300-degrees-C, and they exhibited a broad nematic mesophase region of 70-100-degrees-C. The solution viscosity behavior in chloroform suggested that intramolecular associations of the sulfonate groups occurred at low polymer concentrations and intermolecular associations predominated at higher concentrations.