Abstract
A series of acrylate monomers with alkoxy tails of varying lengths are synthesised and polymerised. The butoxy analogue had a stable enantiotropic cholesteric liquid crystalline phase which formed a grandjean texture when prepared as a thin film between glass slides. The polymer was mixed with a low molar mass nematic liquid crystal in various proportions and the pitch of the chiral nematic phases were determined using a cano-wedge cell technique. The polymer prepared from (S)-2-(4-butoxyphenyl-4'-benzoyloxy)-1-methyl ethyl acrylate had a pitch length of 113 nm which indicates that the polymer film could be employed in optical devices requiring selective reflection of light with short wavelengths in the region of 170 nm. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 506-514 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Polymers for Advanced Technologies |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2001 |
Keywords
- Chiral liquid crystal
- Cholesteric phase
- Comb branch polymers
- Selective reflection