The thermal degradation mechanisms of amphiphilic acrylic copolymers containing mesogenic pyrimidine side chains and hydrophilic 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) main-chain spacer units were investigated by thermogravimetry (TG) and pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS). The degradation behaviour of these polymers depends on the amount of HEA incorporated. Thermogravimetry revealed that the main decomposition occurs in a single step for the pyrimidine homopolymer, whereas with increasing HEA content a two-step process evolves. The major products identified by Py-FIMS are two alcohols and one olefin split from the aromatic side chains. Depolymerization is only a minor degradati…

Light Induced Modifications of Langmuir-Blodgett-Multilayer Assemblies Containing Amphotropic Azocopolymer

Abstract Photochromic LB-multilayers of amphotropic copolymers having rod-like azobenzene moieties as side groups which exhibit thermotropic liquid crystalline behaviour in the bulk have been characterized by UV-VIS spectroscopy as well as by angular dependent and energy dispersive SAXS. Upon irradiation with UV-light the initial optical in-plane anisotropy and the vertical layered structure of LB-films can be destroyed. A new layered structure can be rebuilt on irradiation with visible light or by annealing. Using linearly polarized light for the irradiation an optical anisotropy (POA) has been induced or reversibly modified by a photoselection process.

Mixed polymeric monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers with functional low molecular weight guest compounds

Abstract Mixed monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers of functional low molecular weight guest compounds, especially nonlinear optical (NLO) dyes, within the matrix of an amphotropic spacer polymer have been prepared. The polymer matrix enabled the transfer of guest compounds not capable of self-organizing at the air-water interface by themselves. The structure of the LB multilayers and the transfer process were studied by small angle X-ray scattering and UV-visible spectroscopy. Good NLO coefficients were found in the mixed films.

Detection of phase transitions in thin films with a quartz crystal microbalance

Abstract The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is used to determine the phase transition point of thin films by measuring the change in frequency as a function of temperature. To elucidate this relationship, two types of polymers were studied where the bulk phase transitions were known. We investigated a casted thin film of an amphiphilic polyoxazoline and a Langmuir-Blodgett film comprised of fifteen double layers of an amphotropic polyacrylate. The phase transition points of the thin films could be detected by the QCM which were in the same range as for the bulk materials.