2B06 Synthesis and properties of poly (m-phenylene) derivatives with chiral liquid crystalline substituents

Abstract

We synthesized ferroelectric liquid crystalline (FLC) polythienylene, poly (p-phenylene) and poly (m-phenylene) derivatives by introducing fluorine-containing chiral LC substituents into polymers as side chain to achieve quick response for electric field. Measurements of differential scanning calorimeter, polarizing optical microscope, and X-ray diffraction suggested that the polymers have chiral smectic C (Sc^*) phase which is indispensable for generation of FLC. These polymers showed drastic increases of dielectric constant in the Sc^* temperature range this is a typical FLC behavior based on Curie-Weiss rule. Response times of the polymers were evaluated to be ca. one second, that is 20〜30 times faster than those of ordinary LC polymers.