Photo-Alignment of a Side-Chain Liquid Crystalline Polymer Block Copolymer with Random Planar Orientation

Abstract

We demonstrated that poly(cyanobiphenyl methacrylate)s (CBMAs) exhibit random planar orientation in thin films unlike typical side-chain liquid crystalline polymers (SCLCPs) 1). Recently, we reported the SCLC random copolymer with azobenzene (Az) and cyanobiphenyl (CB) side-chains adopted the random planar orientation 2). In this paper, we synthesized two types of the random copolymer with the Az and CB side-chains and attempt in-plane photoalignment by irradiation of linear polarized light at 436 nm. The resulting random copolymers exhibited the isotropic temperature which were16-35℃ than each homopolymer. Relatively high temperature and irradiation intensity was required for the in-plane photoalignment in the random copolymer thin films.Block copolymers composed of the LC random copolymer and amorphous polymer blocks was synthesized.