• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.587-592
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• 2002

Photocrosslinkable chalcone-epoxy compound comprising 1,3-bis-(4-hydroxy-phenyl)-propenone was synthe-sized for fabricating the photo-alignment layer of liquid crystals. Chalcone group was introduced into the main chain unit of the epoxy oligomer. We observed a photodimerization behavior and an optical anisotropy of this material by irradiation of a linearly polarized UV(LP-UV) light. With a trace amount of cationic photoinitiator (TRS-HFA), polymerization of epoxy groups was also conducted at the similar wavelength range used for photodimerization. Linearly polarized UV irradiation on the chalcone-epoxy films with cationic photoinitiator induced optical anisotropy of the film and the resultant film can be used for alignment layers for low molecular weight nematic liquid crystals.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1207-1212
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• 2001

A new photochemically bifunctional epoxy and dimethacrylate compounds were synthesized for investigating the photosensitivity under UV irradiation. Photosensitivity of the synthesized chalcone-based compounds was investigated by using UV-visible absorption and Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopies. The result of spectroscopic analysis substantiated that the two chalcone-based compounds have functions of both photocrosslinking and photopolymerization by UV exposure in the presence of photoinitiator. Two kinds of photochemical reactions proceeded competitively during UV exposure. Particularly, we studied the effect of photopolymerization on the rate of photocrosslink due to cycloaddition in the two oligomeric compounds.