Synthesis of helically assembled network polymers in chiral liquid crystal field and evaluation of their circularly polarized luminescence

Abstract

Helically assembled network polymers exhibiting circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) have been synthesized in chiral liquid crystal through the photo-radical polymerizations of acrylate derivatives. The polymers showed unique optical texture similar to the chiral liquid crystals used as asymmetric polymerization reaction fields. This result indicates the polymers have helical structures based on the chiral liquid crystals. In this study, various helically assembled network polymers were synthesized through the polymerizations of different kinds of acrylate derivatives in two types of chiral nematic liquid crystal (N*-LC) systems. CPL properties of the polymer films were evaluated.