• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.2431-2434
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• 2012

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.84-90
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• 2009

We prepared side-chain liquid crystalline polymers comprising two monomeric units, one having a mesogenic side group that could form a smectic mesophase and the other having a phenolic group attached to the polymer backbone via a thermally reversible urethane bond. The urethane linkage between the isocyanate and phenol groups was stable at room temperature, but it cleaved to generate an isocyanate group when the temperature was increased. When annealed, the copolymers in their smectic mesophases became insoluble in common organic solvents, suggesting the formation of network structures. XRD analysis showed that the annealed polymers maintained their smectic LC structures. The crosslinking process probably proceeded via the reaction of the dissociated isocyanate groups. Some of the isocyanate groups would have first reacted with moisture in the atmosphere to yield amino groups, which underwent further reaction with other isocyanate groups, resulting in the formation of urea bonds. We presume that only polymer chains in the same layer were crosslinked by the reaction of the isocyanate groups, resulting in the formation of a layered polymer network structure. Reactions between the layers did not occur because of the wide layer spacing.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.195-205
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• 2004

We have synthesized new aromatic polyesters (DiPEG-HQ and DiPEG-BP) by condensation polymerization of a terephthalic acid derivative bearing a pendant oligo(oxyethylene) (DP = 7, MW = 350), which has a methoxy terminal group, and two different aromatic diols, hydroquinone and 4,4'-biphenoI. The synthesized polymers were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarizing microscopy, and X-ray diffractometry for their liquid crystallinity (LC), thermal transitions, and structural morphologies in mesophases. The morphology of the LC phases depends strongly on the length of the rigid backbone repeating unit. The DiPEG-BP polymer having a longer repeating unit exhibits both layered and nematic structures before isotropization, whereas the DiPEG-HQ polymer having a shorter repeating unit shows only the layered structure in the mesophase. We found that the layer spacing for DiPEG-HQ is larger than that for DiPEG-BP. Both polymers easily form complexes with LiCF$_3$SO$_3$; we studied this complex formation by FT-IR spectroscopy. The layer spacing of the polymer-electrolyte composites increases upon increasing the amount of the lithium salt. The polymer/salt electrolyte mixtures we investigated at molar ratios of EO:salt in the range of 5-20 exhibit electrical conductivity values at 40$^{\circ}C$ of 2.4${\times}$10$\^$5/ and 1.1${\times}$10$\^$－5/ S/cm for DiPEG-HQ/LiCF$_3$SO$_3$ and DiPEG-BP/LiCF$_3$SO$_3$, respectively. At 80 $^{\circ}C$, these values are higher: 4.6${\times}$10$\^$－3/ and 1.1${\times}$10$\^$－4/ S/cm, respectively. The activation energy of conductivity depends strongly on the salt concentration.