0000000000011012
AUTHOR
Götz Wilbert
New ferrocene-containing copolyesters
We have synthesized four new ferrocene monomers (three diols and one diester). The redox potential of these ferrocene derivatives varies between 0 mV and 230 mV due to different degrees of ring alkylation. Amorphous and liquid crystalline copolyesters were prepared with these monomers in the polymer main chain. Cyclovoltammetric measurements show that the redox potential of the ferrocene units is increased by about 40 mV upon polymer formation (esterification). Since the ester group is 4 to 6 σ-bonds away from the ferrocene unit this increase is probably caused by some charge-transfer interaction through space. First rheological measurements show an unusual rubber-like behaviour of the ferr…
Liquid-crystalline ionomers
Liquid-crystalline (LC) ionomers combine the properties of ionomers (cluster formation of the ionic groups) with LC phases. They can be prepared with LC main-chain and LC side-chain polymers.
Ordering and dewetting in spin-coated films of a liquid crystalline main chain polymer
Abstract The ordering of spin-coated films of a main-chain smectic liquid crystalline polymer with an azobenzene group connected by flexible spacers to a phenyl malonate unit has been studied as a function of film thickness using scanning force microscopy and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Already the as-prepared films are characterized by a significant out-of-plane orientation of the azobenzene groups. Annealing of films thicker than 7 nm results in aggregation and homeotropical alignment of azobenzene groups forming smectic layers parallel to the substrate. An optically isotropic mesophase was found upon annealing in the temperature range of smectic mesophase. Films thinner than the bilayer thickne…