• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.254-262
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• 2009

Nine kinds of hydroxypropyl celluloses (HPCs) with degree of substitution (DS) and molar substitution (MS) ranging from 2.10 to 2.71 and 2.3 to 6.7, respectively and seven kinds of fully butanoated HPCs (BPCs) based on the HPCs with $2.3\;{\le}\;MS\;{\le}\;6.7$ were synthesized, and the molecular characteristics of HPCs and the thermotropic liquid crystalline properties of the derivatives were investigated. MS was nearly equal to DS for small value of DS, but it became exceedly larger than DS for $DS{\gtrsim}1$, showing that in the later stages of reaction, propylene oxide preferentially adds to the side chains rather than the main chain. All the derivatives formed enantiotropic cholesteric phases with right-handed helical structures. The glass and clearing transition temperatures of both HPCs and BPCs were decreased with increasing MS. The optical pitches (${\lambda}_m'S$) of BPCs, as well as HPCs themselves, increased with increasing temperature. However, the ${\lambda}_m'S$ of both HPCs and BPCs at the same temperature increased with increasing MS. Moreover, the temperature dependence of ${\lambda}_m$ of HPCs was weaker than that of BPCs, suggesting that the helical twisting power of the cellulose chain highly depends on the length and chemical structure of the side chain introduced in cellulose chain.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.776-788
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• 2012

Octa[8-{4-(4'-cyanophenylazo)phenoxy}]octyl and octa[8-{4-(4'-cyanophenylazo)phenoxycarbonyl}]heptanoated disaccharide derivatives were synthesized by reacting cellobiose, maltose, and lactose with 1-{4-(4'-cyanophenylazo) phenoxy}octylbromide or 1-{4-(4'-cyanophenylazo)phenoxycarbonyl}]heptanoyl chloride, and their thermotropic liquid crystalline and photochemical phase transition behavior were investigated. All the {(cyanophenylazo)phenoxy} octyl disaccharide ethers (CADETs) formed monotropic nematic (N) phases, whereas all the {(cyanophenylazo) phenoxycarbonyl}heptanoated disaccharide esters (CADESs) exhibited enantiotropic N phases. Compared with CADETs, CADESs showed higher isotropic (I)-to-N phase transition temperatures. Photoirradiation of the disaccharide derivatives in a glass cell or in a cell with a rubbed polyimide (PI) alignment layer at a N phase resulted in disappearance of the N phase due to trans-cis photoisomerization of azobenzene, and the initial N phase was recovered when the irradiated sample was kept in the dark because of cis-trans thermal isomerization and reorientation of trans-azobenzenes. The rates of the photochemical N-I and the thermal I-N phase transition of disaccharide derivatives in a cell with a rubbed PI alignment layer were faster than those in a glass cell, and were significantly different from those observed for the monomesogenic compounds containing cyanoazobenzene and the 4-{4'-(cyanophenylazo)phenoxy}octyl glucose and cellulose ethers. The results were discussed in terms of difference in cooperative motion of azobenzene groups due to the flexibility of the main chain, the number of mesogenic units per repeating units, and the distance between the azobenzene groups.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.475-482
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• 2007

The thermal and optical properties of glucose penta(cholesteryloxycarbonyl)alkanoates (CAGLn, n = 2~8, 10, the number of methylene units in the spacer) were investigated. All the CAGLn formed monotropic cholesteric phases with left-handed helical structures. CAGLn with n = 2 or 10, in contrast with CAGLn with $3{\leq}n{\leq}8$, did not display reflection colors over the full cholesteric range, suggesting that the helical twisting power of the cholesteryl group highly depends on the length of the spacer joining the cholesteryl group to the glucose chain. The isotropic-cholesteric transition point ($T_{ic}$) decreased with increasing n and showed no odd-even effect. The plot of transition entropy at $T_{ic}$ against n had a sharp negative inflection at n = 7. The optical pitches (${{\lambda}_m}^{\prime}$ s) of CAGLn with $3{\leq}n{\leq}8$ decreased with increasing temperature. However, the temperature dependence of the ${\lambda}_m$ of the derivatives exhibited pronounced dependence on n. The transitional properties and the temperature dependence of the ${\lambda}_m$ observed for CAGLn were discussed in terms of the differences in arrangement of the cholesteryl groups and the conformation of the molecules.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.523-534
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• 2002

A new hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) capable of exhibiting reflection colours in the temperature ranges of about 60-$130^{\circ}C$ and acrylic acid esters of HPC (ESs) with degree of esterification (DE) ranging from 1 to 3 were synthesized. The crosslinked ES films with the optical pitch ($\lambda_m$) ranging throughout the visible region were also prepared by exposing thermotropic cholesteric phases of ESs with a DE of more than 2 to UV light at $50^{\circ}C$. The thermal and optical properties for both the uncrosslinked and crosslinked samples and the swelling behavior of the crosslinked films in acetone were investigated. The $\lambda_m$'s of ESs, as well as HPC itself, increased with temperature. However, the $\lambda_m$'s of ESs were larger than of HPC at the same temperature and decreased with increasing DE. The temperature dependence of $\lambda_m$of the crosslinked samples was much weaker than that of ESs. Moreover, in contrast with ESs that exhibit a decrease of the isotropization temperature with increase in the DE, the networks were found to decompose at about $210^{\circ}C$, giving no transition to an isotropic state. The crosslinked samples exhibited an anisotropic swelling, suggesting that the two-dimensional crosslinking preferentially performs between ES molecules.